Space Hanyou
by Wheezambu
Summary: InuyashaCowboy BeBop crossover. Inuyasha is a dangerous criminal called the Hanyou. On a tip, the BeBop crew manages to capture him. Should have been easy from there, but he's not about to go quietly.
1. One

It was quiet; the only sounds were the faint hum of the ship's idling engines and the purr of the air vents. Outside, stars sparkled like a thousand twinkling jewels scattered across the black velvet of space. The Bebop hovered in a locked orbit around the tiny, rundown station. Out here, they just didn't get a lot of traffic. The asteroid fields had played out their ore years ago and the decaying base didn't have the option like the former miners to pick up and seek more bountiful pastures.

It was barely even a station anymore, catering only to those travelers either so desperate or so lost that they couldn't find a better port. A small populace still clung to existence on the metallic desert island, some working to keep the systems functioning because that's what their parents or grandparents had done. Some preferred to shun the hectic life that flourished near more prosperous population centers, playing out their years in the quiet backend of an all but abandoned system.

A few merchants still made regular deliveries out here, keeping the station's citizens in such goods that they were willing to pay for. Those visits were growing few and far between; even the bars and brothels had seen a serious decline in business over the last few years.

Which was probably why they'd gotten the tip in the first place. A wanted fugitive had been seen in one of the shadiest whorehouses on this miserable little speck of habitation. The local proprietor had recognized the individual, he wasn't one you'd forget easily, and called a contact who'd had a contact, who'd had a friend by the name of Jet. Their luck had been just piss-poor enough lately that the Bebop's crew was willing to spend the fuel to get to the remote base and pay a hefty finder's fee to the owner of the whorehouse if they were able to take the fugitive in. The possibility of a twenty million bounty head couldn't be ignored.

A faint beeping sound startled Faye out of a fitful sleep. She turned and looked blearily at the display. Bebop's systems were already engaging the auto-dock as Jet's ship was heading in. Computers spoke to computers, adjusting Jet's trajectory and servos whined as docking clamps opened to accept their returning prize. Faye thumbed the comm open and stifled a yawn. "Hey guys, did you get him?"

"Yup," Jet's voice answered, sounding tinny on the channel. "Twenty million sitting right here."

She grinned, oh but she had plans for her share. "Have any trouble?" she thought to ask after a moment. A touch of her finger brought up the prisoner's file. Hijacking, piracy, assault, assault with intent to murder, assault with intent to maim, she read.

"No trouble at all. Has to be one of the easiest tags we've ever made," Spike laconic voice answered her.

Faye scrolled down the sheet, frowning. Didn't seem like it should have been an easy one, you don't get bounty like that for pissing in hotel swimming pools. "Arson, resisting arrest, assault on a peace officer, robbery, vandalism...who is this guy?"

"What's that, Faye?" She'd forgotten the comm was still on. "I can't believe he didn't give you any trouble," she answered. "Have you read this guy's file?"

Jet gave a snort of disgust. "Of course I read the damn file, I expected trouble too, but he's quiet as a kitten right now."

"Murder, manslaughter, rape, destruction of public property," she muttered. A real winner. "And check this out," she grinned, wondering why they hadn't mentioned it earlier. "He's wanted on over fifty separate counts of public intoxication, possession of illegal substances and," she couldn't hold back a snigger. "One count of lewd conduct with a duck!"

Jet didn't answer and Faye pouted a little, figuring they were busy with the docking procedures. She rolled lightly to her feet and stuck a cigarette between her lips. Anyone with a rap sheet that interesting was worth a look.

She reached the deck just as Jet and Spike were exiting the ship, each had a foot clutched under an arm and were dragging a man's limp body along the floor. Faye frowned, he had better be alive, they'd lose a considerable percentage if their bounty died before they could turn him in.

"What did you do?" she demanded. "I thought you said he was no trouble, did you have to beat him unconscious or something?"

Spike just gave her sour look. "I told you no, he was unconscious when we got there."

"Dead-ass drunk," Jet grunted.

She peered behind them, they were dragging the guy face down and she had to laugh at their expressions. Jet and Spike continued to pull their unresisting captive along until they got to the nearest holding cell. Moving quickly and in perfect unison they propped the drunk up against the wall, shackled his feet together, then his ankles to the wall. His wrists were already bound in front of him, not that he'd noticed being passed out. Jet even went to the extra precaution of winding a thin, unbreakable cable around the man's waist and locking it into place. Restrained as he was, the guy would be able to lay down, sit up and stand. Absolutely nothing else.

"Is that all necessary?" Faye asked sarcastically, smoke from her cigarette winding around her face.

"You read his sheet," Jet answered. He tugged once more on the cable to make sure it was secure and turned to start programming the visuals that would keep an eye on their new friend. He wanted full surveillance on this loser. The reports had been very clear about it. This guy had been caught and escaped no less than six times in the last year. Having already spent so much time and currency getting a hold of him, he wasn't going to take any chances.

Spike made one last check of their prisoner for concealed weapons. He didn't even have a gun on him when they took him in, being bare as the day he was born. Spike grimaced, he'd paid extra to the madam to have a couple of her girls take care of putting the guy's clothes back on, something they'd done with no few comments and giggles. A light snore filled the room as he pushed the guy over so he was laying on his belly. No good to have him puke and die in his sleep. The prisoner belched loudly and mumbled something illegible before growing quiet again.

Faye edged past Spike to peer a little closer. "Pretty hair," she murmured. "I've never seen such long hair dyed silver before. Before Spike could intervene, she'd stepped up and grabbed a handful of the hair and lifted the prisoner's head. "Oh he's pretty all over," she smirked, looking at the young man's handsome features.

Reaching across her, Spike grabbed Faye by the wrist and shook her arm. "Hands off, Faye. That's a dangerous twenty million you're playing with."

She pouted and flicked a bit of ash on his shoe. "I never get to have any fun," she grumbled. She cast another appreciative glance at the unconscious man and saw something twitch in his hair.

"God, what's that?" she squeaked.

Jet chuckled. "His ears, Faye. Those are his ears."

She stared. "They look like Ein's," she breathed, trying to get a closer look. "Spike, those are DOG ears!"

Spike grinned at her shock. "You didn't read his whole file, did you? That's why he's called the Hanyou. Claims to be half human, half youkai alien."

She glared at him, she wasn't a complete idiot. "Youkai don't exist," she snapped. "That's a bedtime story for spacer kids."

Jet made a gesture that said take it outside and Spike stepped out of the holding cell, closely followed by Faye. He had to smile at the annoyance in the woman's eyes. "Then you tell me where he got the ears."

She scoffed at him. "Duh, surgery, some kind of alteration. Hell, I don't know. Couldn't be that hard to make a pair of fake dog-ears. A lot more plausible than that he's really half youkai, everybody knows they aren't real."

"And that's exactly what they want you to think," Jet said calmly. Spike and Faye stared at him.

"You aren't serious," Spike said, his smile slowly fading from his face when he realized Jet was exactly that.

Turning and locking the door while he keyed in the alarm, the ex-cop turned bounty hunter turned to regard his two younger partners. "I've seen a lot of strange things while kicking around this universe," he told them. "Some stranger than others, some not so bad. All I can tell you is that the government doesn't want you to believe there's such things as youkai. Demon aliens, ones that can look as human as you and me, some living among us. You think the stupid fools that put stupider fools in office want to think about that?"

Faye's eyes narrowed. She wouldn't put it past them to be pulling her leg, the odds were good they were doing just that. Only normally Jet didn't like to work so hard at thinking up stories, not without a better reason than just having a laugh at her expense.

"How do you know about it then?" she demanded. "If it's supposed to be a big old secret then you shouldn't know either."

He shrugged. "Used to know a guy who worked in military intelligence. Flew long-range ships, out to the edge of the known system, very top secret. He told me once he was on a test run and had a complete computer failure. Nothing could explain it and he sat out there, no comm, no way to call for help and watching his oxygen supply dwindle. He was dead meat and he knew it."

Faye was hanging on his words, her mouth open and the butt of her smoke dangling from her lip. Even Spike was paying attention, but without so much expression of incredulous disbelief. Jet had to smile at having caught their attention.

"Well?" Faye asked. "What happened to him?"

"He was drifting, starting to black out from the o-supply cutting off when a ship came up alongside him. It hooked him in, did something to make his computers start squawking and screaming for base to come and find him. He passed out a minute or so after his distress beacon went off. Next thing he knew, his oxygen was charged and a fleet cruiser was hauling him in."

"Then what?" Faye said with a rapt expression.

Jet shrugged. "Not much, he said he swore up and down his psych eval that he'd been rescued. They said he had to have been dreaming. He described the ship that had come across him. They said no such thing existed. He said youkai aliens had saved him. They kicked him out of the program, then threw him out of the military. Said he'd been using hallucinogenics while on duty, had blood samples that proved it. Only he swore he'd never touched the stuff."

"According to him," Spike said dryly. "Sounds like your friend might have been yanking your chain, Jet."

Jet nodded easily. "Could have been, he was pretty drunk when he told me the story. I felt kinda sorry for him, gave him some cash so he could find himself some place to stay. Then one day I found him dead in his room, overdosed on some kind of pills."

Jet's eyes narrowed. "Only problem with that is, guy said he couldn't swallow pills. Made him gag, they always had to give him injections when he was up for his meds. I didn't think a guy who couldn't take pills would have chosen that for his way out."

Spike snorted and tucked his hands in his pockets as he rocked back on his heels. "Well, I don't care what he claims to be. He's a twenty million bounty head to me and he could tell me he was a fairy princess and all I'd say is yes, your majesty." He grinned and nudged Jet. "Let's get the hell out of here, the sooner we drop off our friend, the sooner we can start spending some money."

Faye nodded. "I'm for that! There's just one thing still bugging me about that guy..."

Spike raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"How do you commit lewd conduct with a duck?"

**oOo**

The pounding in his head was making him wake up. Stubbornly, he tried to will the pain to go away, wanting just a little more sleep before he started in on the girls again. Damn, one thing he hated was the way he could metabolize alcohol so fast. In order to even catch a buzz, he needed to five times as much as a normal human.

And he usually kept going until he passed out or ran out of liquor. He knew he wasn't a pleasant drunk, his brother had mentioned that fact on several occasions, but he figured he wasn't all that pleasant when sober either. Sighing at the loss of unconsciousness and starting to feel the urgent need to piss, the hanyou named Inuyasha opened his eyes and sat up.

This was not the whorehouse he'd passed out in. His overly sensitive nose wrinkled, no, a whorehouse might smell better. He tasted grease and oil in the back of his sinuses, old working machinery, old cooking smells and someone definitely needed to overhaul the sanitation system. Glancing around, he decided he was probably in a lock up. As if the pretty bracelets weren't enough of a hint. Great, nailed again. He sighed and leaned his head against the wall. "Maybe I should give up drinking."

One holding cell looked pretty much like another in his opinion, having become something of an expert. This was more like a small metal closet, only a bunk to sit on and the light was low. Figuring it was time to introduce himself to his erstwhile captors, Inuyasha stood up, stretched lazily and started kicking the wall. Hard.

"Hey you bastards," he hollered cheerfully. "I gotta take a piss, you mind?"

A fizzle of static. "San-bucket on the floor, idiot."

He looked around and saw it tucked under his bunk. He smirked then. At least he had their attention now. "What kind of hole is this?" he growled as he worked to unzip his fly. "Even the tank on Mars is nicer than this."

He managed to relieve himself without pissing on his feet, damn handcuffs. If he hadn't had so much practice doing just that he probably would have whizzed all over the floor. Not that his cell didn't already stink bad enough. "Hey, don't I get a phone call?"

"No."

"Ah fuck you, goddamn cops," he grunted. Inuyasha considered ripping the restraints off at that point but decided against it. He was sure he could break them, that and the silly cable holding him to the wall. "I got rights, you assholes!"

"Not on my ship, punk."

Ship? That didn't make sense. He listened hard then, trying to identify the craft he was on by the sound of its engines. It sure didn't sound like an enforcement cruiser he'd ever been on. The smells, the shabby metal walls, it wall suddenly clicked in Inuyasha's brain and a pleased smile lit his face.

"You aren't cops, are you?" he asked. "Bounty hunters?"

Silence greeted his comment and Inuyasha took it as a confirmation. Chuckling he sat back down. "Goddamn cowboys," he said, amused.

This was going to be fun. You could fuck with bounty hunters. They were usually stupid and greedy, more concerned with counting the money they thought they were going to get than really paying attention. Cold sober now, not his favorite state, the headache had already faded to a distant memory. "Hey assholes, what's my bounty up to these days?"

Again with the silence, this could get old. With a threatening scowl he stood up, sure they had visual on him, and started kicking the door again. The metal bent under his foot a little more each time. It wouldn't free him, but he was left with precious little other ways to vent his frustration.

"Knock it off, asshole."

He grinned. "What's my bounty?"

A pause. "Twenty million."

"That's it?" he said, outraged. It was an insult, it was a joke! He had to be worth more than that. He was the Hanyou, son of the greatest youkai pirate ever born.

"Hold out for at least forty," he snarled, his claws twitching.

"Are you out of your fucking head?" a new voice demanded.

Hmmm...female this time, he thought. Young one by the voice. He shifted tactics and sat down, looking morose and pitiable. "I'm innocent," he started, making his golden eyes round and puppyish. "I've been falsely accused, made to pay for crimes that aren't mine. If you're interested in justice, miss, you'll listen to my story before turning me in."

"I'm not interested in justice," she said and Inuyasha heard a shushing sound from the male. "I'm only interested in the twenty million they're going to give me when I turn you in."

"Our twenty million, Faye," the masculine voice said again. "And quit fucking talking to him, that's what he wants." Inuyasha hid another smile. Faye was her name, he would use that to his advantage.

"Don't tell me what to do," the woman snapped peevishly.

Inuyasha shook his head. "You tell him, honey!"

"Shut up!"

He shrugged and stretched out on the bunk. "So when's mealtime?" His stomach was yawningly empty. It was too much to ask that they might have good food. "You can't starve your prisoner, you know."

"Hell if we can't," the male muttered. "Just wait. You be quiet and quit kicking the door and we might just bring you something."

"Fair enough." Make them think you're negotiating, he thought, closing his eyes and relaxing. With any luck he'd be out of here in a few hours. His fangs glistened with his smile. Dumb ass cowboys.


	2. Two

Faye was angry, she wanted to punch something and make herself feel better. Balling her hands into tiny fists, she glared up at Jet, not liking the stern look her partner was wearing. "Why do I have to do it?"

"Cause I'm busy," he grunted and turned away. Jet removed a panel and started tinkering with the electronics. Damn sanitation unit was acting up again, he didn't want to know what Ed had stuffed down the can this time. He was tired, bone tired and let Faye's incessant complaints trickle in one ear and out the other.

"Why can't Spike do it?" she whined.

Jet glared at the woman, annoyed by her petty selfishness once again. "Because Spike's asleep. Unlike you, we've both been up for two days straight hunting this bounty. All you had to do was just sit here with Ed and wait. I don't think I'm asking much by having you take the guy his dinner.

"Whatever," she answered. "I'm not your damn servant, Jet."

He snorted, fiddling with the wires, yes, there it was, a damn short. Every friggin time, he swore this ship was going to drive him insane some day. "Just fucking do it, Faye. Quit bitching for once and help, try to pretend you're more than just baggage on this ship."

Stung, she planted her hands on her hips. "What if he attacks me or something? I'm not getting dropped to the deck by that creep."

He was counting to ten, it had never helped before but Faye was really just standing on his last nerve. "Take a gun, point it at him. That's never been hard for you. Tell Ed to watch the visual while you're down there. That way if you get in trouble, Ed will give a yell and we'll both come running to save you."

"Yeah, right," she grumbled. "I just bet." Sighing, she went to the locker and chose the most imposing looking rifle. It looked like it could stop anyone in their tracks and that's what she wanted. She slung it over her shoulder and took the food from the warming unit and went to visit their twenty million.

He'd done nothing but bitch and complain for the better part of the past few hours, demanding food or liquor, hollering out new insults regarding his cell. She rather thought he didn't want them to forget he was there. Either that or he just wanted to make sure he got on their nerves. She couldn't quite tell from the grainy reception they had on his visual, but he seemed to be having a good time thinking up new ways to be annoying.

Faye punched in the security code, her finger jabbing the worn keypad angrily. Just give him his damn food and leave. She wasn't going to waste her time talking to the fool. He looked up when the door slid open, a pleased expression crossing his face.

"Oh yeah, I knew you'd be hot."

Great, she thought, another pervert. "Shut your fucking hole," she snapped, making sure he knew she meant business. She flipped down a surface and dropped his meal. The rifle came up, leveled right at his face, before she started to back out the door.

He grinned. "Hey, you can't stay and keep me company?"

"Why would I want to do that?" Damn, where did he those eyes, she thought, letting no expression touch her face. She revised her earlier opinion, he wasn't pretty, and he was drop dead gorgeous.

Inuyasha smirked, reading her body language. Good, she thinks she's tough, he thought. He reached out and took the container from the fold down shelf. "Hmmm, smells pretty good."

"Ramen," she said shortly. "It's all you're getting so too bad if you don't like it."

"Not at all," he said with a dazzling smile. God, should his teeth be that white, she wondered. The tip of her rifle never wavered.

"What's your name?" he asked quietly, even though he'd already heard it.

"None of your business," she answered sweetly.

His eyes lit up at her tone and she stepped back, suddenly feeling wary. "What's a pretty thing like you doing working bounty?" he wanted to know as he blew on the hot ramen.

She just frowned at him. "What's a pretty guy like you doing being a bounty head?"

Inuyasha was enjoying his little verbal exchange. "Fair enough," he murmured. He glanced around and picked up a pair of chopsticks to eat and grinned again. Handcuffs would make it quite a trick. "I don't suppose you could take these off long enough for me to eat, could you?"

Faye laughed. "You've got to be kidding."

He eyed her, openly letting his gaze linger on her breasts and legs. A delicious idea formed in his mind. "Hmmm, can't say I blame you. A girl like you has to be careful of a big bad criminal like me. You're cautious, that's good. I like a woman who can think."

He pushed his bowl in her direction. "If you won't take the cuffs off, maybe you could feed me instead."

She laughed again, amused. "You think I'm going to get that close to you? Try something else."

"Like what," he protested, holding up his cuffed hands. "Look lady, I'm shackled to the wall, my hands are bound together, what do you think I'm going to do? You can drop me with that cannon if I so much as twitch. Don't you think you've got the upper hand here?"

"I certainly do," she said smoothly. "But I'm not going to feed you, believe me, I'm not the maternal type."

His smile was wicked. "Good, because that's not how I've been thinking of you." Tag. She blushed, he knew it. The day he couldn't make any female blush was the day he was going to lay down and let them make him into a throw rug. He sniffed the air, hmmm...her scent says she's interested, but she's too wary to get closer. Time to change tactics.

Her eyes followed him as he leaned back easily against the wall. He raised his arms to slip his cuffed hands behind his head and leer pleasantly at her. "You know, it really turns me on to have a woman try to dominate me like this. There's no reason this has to be an unproductive voyage."

She caught her breath at the nerve of him. "What the hell is wrong with you?" she demanded, her face flushing again. "If you think I'm going to do anything more than hold this gun in your face, you're more cracked in the head that your psych profile said."

He shrugged his shoulders. "I'm just saying you're in total control. I'm completely at your mercy, why not enjoy it?"

He saw her gaze flicker a little as she looked him over and grinned. He knew the kind of effect he had on women, this one was no different. He stretched, smirking insolently at her. The dark red vest he was wearing contrasted nicely against his toned golden skin, he knew she could see the ripple of each defined muscle on his chest and abdomen.

Faye's mouth had dropped open just a little, he was indeed an amazing specimen of whatever the hell he was. Her eyes hardened suddenly and he blinked when he heard the sound of her flicking off the safety on the rifle. "Get over yourself, hot shot. You're just one more cocky, conceited asshole to me. If you weren't worth more to me alive than dead, I might do the world a favor and take you down a few notches."

This was going nowhere. Annoyed, he sighed heavily. "Okay, can't blame me for trying." He started to pull his arms down and gave a sharp hiss of pain. "Damn it!"

"What now?" she asked suspiciously. Inuyasha was contorting in pain and digging at the back of his head. "My hair's stuck in the damn handcuffs," he snapped. Well, wasn't this humiliating.

Faye thought so too and laughed. "Your hair? Come on, just yank it out, be a man about it."

He glared at her. "No way, it will hurt too much. There's a big chunk of it stuck!" He wrestled with it for another moment, not really caring what she thought. "Shit, it's all twisted around." His eyes fastened on her pleadingly. "I need you to help me."

"No fucking way," she grinned. It was fun watching him struggle, a wince of pain and a fine blush of embarrassment replaced the cocky leer. "Not so bad ass now, are you Hanyou?"

"This isn't funny," he growled. Oh this was great, he just loved being stuck like this, it was a damn good thing his brother wasn't here to see this mess, he'd get one hell of a fucking laugh about it. "Just fucking help me," he snapped.

Her snicker made him start to be angry. Faye leaned against the wall and smirked. "That's how you ask for help?"

Inuyasha looked up at her. "I'm sorry," he said softly. "I was just playing around with you earlier, not trying to escape. You know you're pretty, don't tell me that's the first time someone has flirted with you."

Flirting he called it, Faye rolled her eyes. He didn't look so tough now, with his hands trapped behind his head. In fact, he looked utterly ridiculous and pathetic. "If you ask me nicely enough, I might help you," she cooed in a condescending tone.

His golden eyes met hers. "Please help me," he begged, his eyes were wide and pleading. Faye liked having the upper hand and turned to secure the rifle so she didn't have to put it within his reach.

"That's a good doggy," she smiled, seeing a little flicker of anger in his eyes. But he didn't dare say a damn thing, like he'd mentioned earlier, he was at her mercy. She reached out and grabbed a handful of his hair and shoved his head down.

"Oh, what a mess you've made," she chuckled, trying to pry the silver strands out of the metal. "You really need to be more careful."

He sat silently and let her work on it, feeling pretty humiliated but also aware of the splendid view. He grinned, he could look right down her clothes, which didn't cover a whole hell of a lot in the first place. "You have great tits," he muttered thickly.

She froze. "You son of a bitch," she snapped, and yanked hard on his hair. "You beg for help and just use it as an excuse to ogle me, you disgusting pervert!"

His arms came down around her suddenly, and standing as she had been with her legs on either side of his knees, Faye found herself sitting his lap with her own arms trapped by his. "Yup," he said mildly. "I admit it, I am a disgusting pervert." He yanked her closer and licked her neck. "Let me show you how perverse I can be."

She fought to get to her feet but his arms were like steel. "Damn you! I'm going to fucking kill you, screw the bounty!" Faye was so angry she meant it too and usually money always won out over anger. She tried to get up again and felt his hips grinding against hers as he held her down.

"Don't be like that, pretty Faye," he murmured again. "I'm not such a bad guy when you get to know me." His nose had worked its way down her chest and Faye hissed when she felt those sharp teeth touch her breast. He sucked at her skin, making the blood push up against its surface. Even though she was angry enough to spit granite, the feelings weren't altogether unpleasant. A tiny moan escaped her lips when he moved to the other breast, his tongue slipping under the fabric of her clothing, testing and tasting for her reactions.

"Good girl," he purred. "You know you want to give it to me, you're the tastiest cowboy I've ever run across."

She felt his smile, felt him growing hard under her trapped hips. "Just relax and let yourself enjoy it," he whispered sensuously. "Maybe we can hook up if you let me go, find someplace quiet and just fuck each others' brains out. I promise I'll make it worth your while."

It couldn't be worth twenty million, a hard little voice spoke in her head. Oh no you don't, she thought, trying to ignore what he was doing to her body. "Let me go and I'll think about it," she purred, matching his seductive tone.

Inuyasha looked up at her, smiling even as his tongue drew a line down her throat. "I'm not letting go, I've got what I want right here. I'm another minute you'll be doing whatever I want."

That cocky tone infuriated her and Faye was abruptly out of patience. She leaned into him, ignoring his growl of pleasure as she buried his face between her breasts and took one of his fuzzy ears between her teeth and bit down hard.

He yelped in surprised pain. "Bitch!"

"Let me go, asshole," she said through her clenched teeth. His claws dug into her ass cheeks and she jumped against him.

"You want it rough, I can do that," he hissed. "If that's what you like, just say so."

Great, it actually turned him on, she thought, feeling him starting to rub his pelvis against hers harder. "Son of a bitch," she muttered and let the ear slide out of her teeth. The claws pulled out of her butt and she relaxed a bit. She felt laughter starting to shake his muscular body and looked down at him.

"What's so fucking funny?"

Inuyasha darted forward and kissed Faye hard, his tongue driving against hers and she felt her body start to go weak again. "You're funny," he answered when he let her lips go. "I thought you were supposed to be a tough girl, I can feel how hot this making you. Take off the fucking cuffs."

"No," she snarled, glaring at him. He squeezed her tight against him and she felt the sharp points of his fingers trace down her back. "Even if I let you go, and I'm not going to, you wouldn't get of this ship."

"Really?" he asked, starting to lap between her breasts again. "You'd be surprised what I can do." She felt his hands on her clothes again and realized he was about to strip them off her.

"No, wait," she said, squirming desperately.

"Uh, Faye?" a voice said behind her. Spike was standing in the doorway, rubbing his eyes and looking tired. "Ed said you were in some kinda trouble?"

"No, we're doing good," Inuyasha answered cheerfully. "She's an aggressive little thing but nothing I can't handle!"

"Let me go!" Faye snarled, tearing at him. Spike just stood there, his head cocked to the side. She glared at him. "What are you waiting for, help me! Club him in the head with the rifle or something, Spike!"

Inuyasha pouted, looking over her shoulder at him. "Come on, man. I'm bound hand and foot, you think she got into this position without being willing?" Insolently, he raised his arms and let her free.

She spun around and slapped his face as hard as she could. "Miserable bastard, that's not what happened!"

Spike yawned. "Quit playing around Faye, we didn't drag this guy back here just so you could have some fun."

She whirled again, her fists clenched. "You shut up," she snapped, her eyes flashing. Fingers reached for her bottom and she jerked at the clawed touch.

"Bastard!"

She hit him again, his head rocked back but there was no mistaking the lecherous smile in his eyes. "I told you that turns me on, you little fireball."

Faye snarled to herself and seized the rifle. Spike quickly grabbed it out of her hands. She fought for a second and then let it go, glaring at Spike. "Settle down, Faye. He's trying to get to you."

"And succeeding," Inuyasha mentioned. He grabbed the ramen container and started pouring the cooled soup down his throat. He was still hungry, after all. "Thanks for the eats, babe," he mumbled as Faye stormed out the door.

Spike just shook his head. He didn't want to know what had really been going on, he didn't care really. "I guess Jet will have to bring you your dinner next time," he commented.

Inuyasha continued to slurp. "You know," he said finally. "Twenty million is nothing. My father would pay twice that to keep me out of enforcement hands. You play your cards right and you could end up very wealthy."

Spike grinned. It was hardly the first time someone had tried to bribe him. "Sorry, we've already logged you. They know we're coming in."

The hanyou kicked back his legs and stretched out on the bunk. "Just think about it for a while," he said, getting ready for a satisfying nap. "Cops are greedy, you know how they hate paying out perfectly good money to bounty hunters. Hurts their sense of pride, you know."

Spike considered his words thoughtfully. "I don't mind hurting their pride, as long as they pay me for the privilege."

A wide yawn split Inuyasha's face. It really was too bad the jerk had wandered in when he had, he would have given that little fireball something she'd never forget. Now he was stuck with nothing else to do but nap. Spike turned to go when Jet's voice abruptly broke over the comm. "Spike, get your ass up here right now."

He thumbed the mic. "What's the problem?"

"We got company."


	3. Three

Jet sat staring at his displays and cursing his rotten luck. Of all the problems in the wide world, this wasn't one he needed right now. Was it too much to ask that for once things be easy? Just take the bounty head to the nearest local authority, collect your money and move on. What should be complicated about that? Irritated, he snapped the display off and put his head in his hands. Some days it seemed that God just hated them.

Spike strolled into the room and gave a quick glance at the darkened consoles. "I thought you said we had company." His eyebrow quirked slightly when he noticed Jet's morose posture. "Is there a problem?"

Wordless, Jet just leaned over and punched up the display. Spike frowned when the sound of an automatic hail began running through the Bebop's comm system.

"…_prepare to be boarded. You are requested to power down and allow boarding. This pertains to official business of interplanetary law enforcement. Please prepare to be boarded and cooperate with the federal marshals_."

"Feds?" Spike asked softly.

Jet looked up and nodded. "I know what you're thinking, what the hell are they doing way out here? This sec is at the ass end of nowhere, Spike. They don't even have local enforcement, which is the reason we have to haul prettyboy as far as we do. What the hell do federal marshals want with us?"

Spike scratched his head. As far as he knew, he hadn't done anything to warrant attention like that. An idiot knew you didn't want the feds to find you interesting. He could keep a low profile when he had to and always did for better reasons than just keeping his nose out of trouble. As for Jet, he had friends in enforcement from one side of the known universe to the other, there was no way someone wouldn't have clued him in that the Bebop was under surveillance. That left only one person and Spike's eyes narrowed even as Jet came to the same nauseating conclusion.

Jet's eyes flashed. "I'm going to fucking kill her." The bigger man surged out of his chair only to be stopped by a casual fingertip on his shoulder.

"Maybe we should find out for sure before you go committing some heinous act against Faye."

"She's been nothing but trouble since she boarded this ship," Jet snarled. His face was flushed with anger and Spike smiled faintly.

"Maybe they'll arrest her."

With a surprised expression, Jet considered the possibility. A life free of Faye's complaining appealed to him, especially if it meant they wouldn't have to bail her out of trouble. "You think so? You don't get feds knocking on your hatch for gambling debts."

Spike shrugged casually, leaned against the wall and pulled out a smoke. "Guess it depends on who she owes."

Sighing, Jet turned back to his displays and started telling Bebop's systems that they were about to receive guests. "They ain't trolling through my files," he muttered, punching in security keys that should prevent a curious federal marshal from downloading any of their personal data.

"They can show me a fucking warrant if they want to dump my memory storage and pick over everywhere we've been in the last five years." Damn feds, thought they owned the universe, expected local enforcement to just curl over when they demanded something. He didn't like it, but what could he do when a sleek cruiser was pulling up along side and matching your velocity so they could clamp a docking module on your hatch?

Still muttering to himself, Jet didn't notice that Spike had ambled away. "They better arrest her."

**oOo**

"We got company."

Inuyasha watched the tall bounty hunter frown at his partner's words and pretended not to notice. Some stress in the other guy's voice, he decided. It meant something and the Hanyou intended to find out what. Swinging his legs over the side of his bunk, he leaned over to see if he could reach the comm panel. Just enough to be able to do a little spying, he thought with a grin. The panel had been sealed, no doubt to prevent what he was about to attempt.

Morons, like that could keep him out of it. He licked his finger with the tip of his tongue and glided it along the metal casing. Finding the seam, he pushed in slowly with the point of his claw until he felt the metal snap. One of the many benefits of having been born with clawed fingernails several times stronger than surgical steel. He pried the cover off and started fiddling with the connections, muttering to himself about the crew not wasting any money on upgrades.

His ears twitched hopefully when a bit of static graced his cell, twisting the wires a little more and hoping the old wiring wasn't going to break off in his fingers. He picked up the trans, couldn't quite get the squawk and settled for tapping into Bebop's in-ship comm instead.

Fuzzy static filled the room and he scowled when he realized the speaker system was probably so shot it was only good for short verbal trans. He wouldn't get any more information than that. Listening hard, he could tell that someone was yelling in Bebop's ear, someone was forcing through a ship-to-ship hail and poor Bebop didn't have a choice but to receive. Through the wiring and the static, he was able to discern a tinny human voice repeating its message over and over, some kind of loop.

…_prepare to be boarded...official...enforcement...federal marshals_…

Inuyasha's eyebrows shot up when he realized the implications of what he'd heard. Boarding? Federal marshals? Shit, shit, SHIT!

He whistled low and scowled at the door, one ear twitching restlessly. Oh they weren't taking this hanyou boy in, no way. Plans were going to change. With a quick twist of his arms, he broke the manacles that were holding his hands together. He reached around behind him and felt where the cable around his waist was joined and shredded it like dental floss.

Ignorant humans, stupid cowboys, get themselves picked up by a goddamn federal marshal. That was all he needed, he'd had every intention of relaxing at his leisure until the Bebop got within range of a welcoming population center. Now he was going to have to dive for it in the damn boonies. Inuyasha bent down and crushed the bands around his ankles, peeling the reinforced metal like foil.

The door would require a bit more subtlety, he thought. He could probably just kick it down, but he didn't want his captors to be alert to his freedom just yet. Not until he was long gone and away from unfriendly enforcement hands. Inuyasha tore off the door's control panel, whose idea of welding was that? Humming vaguely as he tinkered, Inuyasha cut and spliced together wiring and rerouted the security keys.

Not his fault they didn't spring for a more expensive system, this was something he could do in his sleep. Inuyasha grinned as he twitched a wire and the door slid soundlessly open. And his brother thought he'd slept through all his electronics training. Just because it bored him to tears didn't mean he hadn't learned anything.

The truth was that was the secret of his many escapes, it wasn't his strength or his cunning, although he congratulated himself on having been born with a sizable quantity of both. It wasn't even his charming personality that had gotten him out of lockups throughout known human space. His personality tended to help him get into lockup more than out.

No, it was the simple fact that there wasn't a system he didn't know how to bypass or a lock he couldn't pick. Miroku said he was lucky more often than not, but Inuyasha blew off the comment as simple jealousy. They weren't taking him in, not today, and not ever.

"Hope someone on this boat has some transport worth stealing," he muttered, poking his silver head out the door and making sure the coast was clear. He really didn't want to be within firing range when that marshal figured out he'd given them the slip. It would certainly put a crimp in his style.

**oOo**

The woman's face was expressionless, a tinge of distaste in her large dark eyes. "Major Kagome Higurashi," she introduced herself and didn't offer to shake hands.

Jet scowled and crossed his arms over his chest. He knew the type, career officer, by the book, smart and probably ruthless as all hell. Higurashi held her hands behind her back as she stepped confidently on his deck.

The federal marshal looked around her and allowed herself a faint smile. "Thank you very much for allowing us to board."

"As if I had a choice," Jet snorted, glaring at the woman. "You wanna tell my why I rate your attention? As far as I know, my ship is clean and I've got logs to prove it."

Major Higurashi didn't look amused at the tone in his voice. "The Bebop is not our concern. I only came aboard because you've taken on a very dangerous criminal. I wish to verify his identity for myself."

"Oh that's it," Spike said sarcastically. "You just want to look at him, you aren't going to take him into custody?"

Her eyebrows raised. "If you have indeed captured the Hanyou, I will take him into custody immediately."

"The hell!" Jet swore, angry. "You aren't taking him anywhere before we get our bounty. We tracked him, we picked him up and did the work. I'm not letting him go without getting paid for him."

The major pursed her lips and shot him a narrow gaze. "You will be paid, I assure you." She ran a curious fingertip over one of the docking consoles and grimaced with distaste at the sooty dust on her pristine glove. Filthy bounty hunters.

Spike caught the annoyance in the marshal's gaze and found himself starting to actively dislike this Kagome Higurashi. Her imperious attitude was grating on both his and Jet's nerves. She was tiny, she looked like she was barely out of school, but carried herself with a willful confidence.

"Yeah, we'll let you take him. And when you get back to your base, wherever the hell that is, you'll fill out the forms and requests to have our bounty paid to us. After the paperwork is requested and reviewed in triplicate, we might actually see a payment after only what, six months? We get paid immediately if we log him into an enforcement center. You're more than welcome to follow us in and take him from there."

"Do you have any idea how dangerous this person is?" Higurashi demanded, her hands on her hips. She looked from one face to the other, quite annoyed they'd even think of denying her. "He's escaped more times than I care to count. This time he's going to be in MY custody. I have no tolerance for sloppy cowboys who can't secure a prisoner."

"He's plenty secure below deck," Jet rumbled. "If you want to look at him and make sure we've got the right guy, be my fucking guest. But you ain't taking him off this ship, not until I see twenty million in my account."

Higurashi sighed, her lips pursing in disgust. "Very well. I have no such warrant that states I can take him against your will. If he's secure enough by my standards, I have no problem with following your ship to the nearest enforcement center so you can collect your bounty. Please now, show me to his cell."

Jet blinked, he hadn't expected to win this one. Feds invariably started to lean on you when they wanted something. No being nice about it, maybe the woman was just doing her job. He saw a steely glint in the major's eyes and felt all sympathetic feelings vanish.

"If he's not secure enough for my peace of mind I will immediately call for that warrant and let's hope your logs are cleaner than your ship," she said coldly.

Grumbling, Jet led the marshal away. Spike watched him with a mild disinterest. Just because she was unpleasant didn't negate any of her authority. He glanced up and noticed a visual watching him. "You get all that, Faye?"

She didn't answer, but he heard the clump of her feet as she came out of her hiding place. "Why did you think she was after me? I haven't done anything that would get me arrested." Spike just looked at her until she flushed.

"Nothing that bad that I'd have a federal marshal on my case," she amended hastily. Faye looked in the direction Jet had taken their guest. "If it wasn't for the money, I'd say hand the son of a bitch over."

Spike couldn't resist a grin. "And here I thought you were getting along with him."

Her black look was worth it, Faye flushed angrily and ground her hands into fists. "I told you, it wasn't like that! He's a total pig, you wouldn't believe what he thought he was going to do. Even tied up he managed to get his hands on me."

"You didn't exactly look unwilling," Spike commented dryly. "Not my place to tell you how to live your life, Faye."

She just glowered at him for a moment and spun around. "Think what you want, I don't really give a damn."

Jet was busy entertaining himself with thoughts of getting this prissy marshal off his ship. Once she got a good look at their bounty, she'd know they had the right man, safe and sound. Then he could relax and enjoy the rest of the trip. One good thing about having a cruiser follow them was that they wouldn't have to deal with any guff from the local constabulary or customs as they made their way in. Federal authority always superseded local authority. He wondered if she could get him out of the docking fees, it seemed like everyone was out to gouge them one way or another.

"He's down here," he finally rumbled, catching Higurashi's eye. "Most secure cell on the ship, I modified it myself."

"Is this part of your modification?" Major Higurashi asked sweetly, pointing at an open door and a patched security console.

Jet stared, son of a bitch! "He was here a half hour before you boarded," he started to protest.

"I believe you," she answered in a dry voice. "If nothing else proves his identity, this little jailbreak does it." Her attention turned to a comm she drew from her belt.

"Lieutenant Sango? Please draw weapons and join me on the Bebop. Our hanyou is running at large on the ship and it looks like we might be in for a lively time with him after all."

"Yes ma'am," came the crisp response.

Jet scowled. "Weapons? You ain't shooting up my ship, lady. He's worth a lot more to me alive too."

"As he is to me," Higurashi shot back, matching him glare for glare. "Do you have any idea how many marshals have been searching for this man? Did you not read his file, he's extremely dangerous and deviated."

"Yeah," he said tiredly. "Aren't they all?"

Kagome Higurashi looked at him thoughtfully. "Maybe you don't really understand. Don't you know who the Hanyou's father is?"

Jet was confused. "I know he goes around claiming to be half youkai. Is there more to his bullshit story than his file says?"

She grit her teeth, frustrated by his ignorance. "I take it you don't believe youkai aliens exist?"

"Oh, I believe they exist," Jet answered promptly. "I just meant that I don't believe this guy is one. If you'd seen him passed out naked on the floor..."

"Spare me," she said, holding up her neatly gloved hand. "In any case, yes. His father is what is termed to be a youkai alien. A monster from the old fairytales. A ruthless, shape changing, powerful alien. He's also known for his reputation as a pirate as well as his obsession with powerful vessels."

"Wait a minute." The light was dawning in Jet's brain. "I've heard of this guy, you aren't talking about the pirate Inutaisho? Man, they've been telling tall ones about that guy for years. I didn't even know he was for real, let alone alien."

"Believe it," Higurashi said soberly. "And every bit of intelligence we've gathered on him suggests that your bounty head is truly his youngest son. We've been trying to pinpoint Inutaisho's bases for some time now, but we haven't had any luck getting the coordinates. With his son as an informant, or as barter, we might actually have a chance of capturing him."

Jet wasn't normally one to buy into a cop's story, having told his share over time. There was a ring of sincerity in the marshal's voice, she didn't look like she was playing him. She looked like she believed every word of her tale with all the conviction in her heart.

"I don't know that we want to get mixed up in something like that," he said quietly.

She nodded. "I can understand that. As soon as he's recaptured, I'll take him off your hands."

He wasn't that desperate to stay out the feds' way, or about to lose his mind out of fear about some half mystical pirate. "No way, Major. Our deal still stands. Do whatever you have to in order to secure him, but he's gonna stay here."

"Assuming we are able to capture him," she drawled. "If I or my lieutenant are the ones to bring him down, we're taking him where we please. However, if your people take him..." she let the sentence trail off suggestively.

Jet grinned and thumbed his comm. "Spike, Faye," he said, grinning. "Time to get to work."


	4. Four

Inuyasha peeked around the corner of the corridor, listening hard for the sounds of humans. He trusted his ears more than his eyes at times like this. And there was no way in hell he was letting any damn federal marshal get their hands on him. It wasn't that he feared incarceration, he could do time standing on his head if need be, but his father would absolutely murder him if he was forced to break his wayward son out of a federal lockup. Inuyasha didn't fear much, but his father's wrath was swift and to the point and the youkai pirate's annoyance at his son's colossal stupidity for getting himself into this kind of situation would be nothing less than explosive.

Satisfied that he was alone, he set off down the passage at a light run. Quiet, dog boy, he told himself, slowing to a gentle lope. They don't know you're out yet so no reason to go clattering around the ship when you can be quiet about it. Grinning, he reflected on his luck of at least getting caught by cowboys who couldn't secure their own prisoners better than this. Now if only they had something flyable for him to steal, preferably fast as hell. He was a little disappointed, he'd sincerely hoped for another chance at that tasty woman, but he knew when to cut his losses. She'd smelled as good as she looked once he'd gotten her a little warmed up, too bad they were interrupted.

He had the shittiest luck sometimes.

But today isn't one of those times, he thought, with a low, appreciative whistle at the gorgeous sight before his eyes. "Now that looks quick," he muttered, running a hand over the craft's sleek hull. Not sure what kind of vessel it was, but Inuyasha was confident he could fly anything with an engine. He ducked around the side and started to climb up. "Let's see what you have, sweetheart."

A strange scent reached his nose and he turned around and started looking for it in spite of himself. "What the hell?"

A sharp bark answered his question and he found himself looking into a pair of intelligent brown eyes. "They have a dog?" he asked wonderingly.

The little Welsh corgi wagged its rump politely. A sharp yip acknowledged his comment and Inuyasha found himself grinning at the little animal. He hopped off the side of the Swordfish and knelt down to pet the dog's ears. "Well, hello little guy. What are you doing here?"

Ein's ears pricked up and he instantly rolled over on his back, begging to have his belly rubbed. The half alien smiled and stroked the soft fur, rumbling deep in his chest. He leaned back on his heels and started to stand up when the little dog sprang to his feet and yipped again. Ein trotted over to a vent in the floor and started digging furiously.

Curious, Inuyasha went to inspect the metal plating. "Something down there, little guy?" His fingers touched the floor lightly.

Something was down there and with a growl Inuyasha dug his fingers into the vent and gave a sharp yank. The plating gave way with a groan and Inuyasha found himself staring at pair of bright eyes and rosy cheeks. "What the fuck?"

A foul smelling gas blasted him in the face. Inuyasha's nose was instantly overwhelmed and before he knew it he was rolling on the floor, blind and gagging from the reeking substance. Edward climbed out of the vent and started giggling. "Edward caught you!"

**oOo**

"Is he awake?"

"You tell me. You're the federal marshal."

Higurashi glared at him, making Spike grin and lean against the wall casually. "You should just let me take him, he's already proven more than capable of escaping from this vessel."

"He won't get a second chance," Jet growled ominously. He was still smarting from the way the young punk had just ripped his restraints off like they were made of paper. That and the cute wire job he'd done on the cell door. It might take him weeks to recover from this embarrassment.

Jet wasn't feeling any too charitable towards the Hanyou at the moment. Being humiliated in front of feds wasn't his favorite experience. He shot an intimidating glare at the marshal's young looking second. The woman hadn't lowered her weapon since they'd dragged the unconscious bastard back up to the deck and thrown him on the couch.

"Lady, you wanna watch where you're pointing that?" he asked irritably.

She didn't glance up, her eyes trained on the criminal. "I am watching. Better than you did."

"You can stand down, lieutenant," Higurashi said in a soft voice. The petite marshal moved forward to stare at the prisoner, his mouth open and drooling over the shabby upholstery. "He's awake. I'm sure of it." She pulled a slender rod from her waist and activated it. A high pitched whine sounded and then faded away, but the Hanyou's ears twitched.

Major Higurashi smiled. "Oh, I see you're acquainted with this device. Shall I demonstrate some of its more entertaining applications or are you going to quit faking unconsciousness?"

Slowly, he put his hands under him and pushed his chest off the couch. It smelled of rancid cigarettes and age, but it was preferable to being zapped by a sadistic witch of a fed. He rolled over and looked at her, his eyes widening appreciatively. "Hello sweetheart," he rumbled, fixing her with a speculative leer. "You come all this way just for little me?"

Spike noticed that the woman's back stiffened considerably at his suggestive tone. "You are the wanted criminal known as the Hanyou, also known as Inuyasha, son of the pirate Inutaisho?"

Insolently, he leaned his head on his fist and stretched out on the couch. "Yeah, that's me. Like what you see? It's your lucky day, babe."

Her fist tightened and a bright bolt of blue light shot from the slender wand and struck the silver-haired hanyou. He yelped in pain and flipped over the side of the couch and landed hard on the deck.

Jet's eyebrows raised in surprise. "Whoa, that packs a punch!"

She smiled sweetly. "Special issue stun wand, that was the lowest setting." She focused her gaze on the young man who was getting to his feet with an expression of pain. "Care to test my patience again, Hanyou?"

He growled angrily, his eyes darkening with fury. "Kiss my ass, you fucking bitch!"

Higurashi hit him again, this time holding the blue beam on him until he fell to the floor in agony. "Your penchant for stupidity precedes you. I think you need a lesson in manners."

"Hey, knock it off," Jet snarled, his hands forming into tight fists. Spike and Faye both looked at him with some surprise. Jet ignored them and matched the marshal's glare.

"Nobody tortures prisoners on my ship!" He'd seen more than his share of sadistic cops, ones who got off on having power over their prisoners and enjoyed humiliating them. It sickened him then and it sickened him now.

"Torture?" Major Higurashi raised her eyebrows. "I think that's a little strong. That was simply a polite request for attention." She turned back to the hanyou who was slowly getting to his feet.

Inuyasha's face was pure murder, his clawed hands were clenching in angry fists. "You got my attention, you fucking federal whore."

"Good," she snapped. "I'd hate to think I've been wasting my time." She spun around crisply and faced Jet. "I have determined that you are completely incapable of restraining this prisoner. Not only do you lack the adequate facilities, it's obvious that you harbor sympathy for him. That is a dangerous combination and under the circumstances I cannot allow him to remain in your custody."

"That wasn't our deal," Spike said softly. Lieutenant Sango twitched at the dangerous tone in his voice and swung the muzzle of her weapon in his direction. Higurashi looked at him seriously.

"I understand your concern," she said quietly. "I will do everything in my power to see that your payment is expedited."

"That's not good enough," Jet hissed at her. He glanced over at Spike and Faye before looking the marshal in the eyes. "We won't let him go. Call your superiors, just get us our money and we'll turn him over."

Tension filled the room as Jet and Higurashi faced off. Inuyasha looked interested, smirking a little, and sat back down on the couch to await the outcome. Both Faye and Spike made subtle moves that indicated they were a moment away from drawing weapons themselves. Higurashi's fingertips drummed on her pristine white sleeves, her dark eyes flashing as she refused to let Jet's anger intimidate her. Pushing the situation to a confrontation and bloodshed would serve no one. Force was not the answer in this case.

"Lieutenant Sango," she said softly, never taking her eyes from Jet's. "You may return to the ship. I want you to proceed to the nearest enforcement center and download our reports to headquarters. Make sure they have detailed information regarding this particular ship and its crew. Give them our estimate for arrival and make sure they're ready to take the prisoner into secure custody the moment the Bebop docks."

"Ma'am?" Sango asked, looking questioningly at her. She could hardly believe the major had any intentions of backing down. Even if they followed at close range there was no guarantee that the Hanyou wouldn't have another opportunity to escape.

Higurashi gave her a crisp nod. "I am going to stay aboard to personally supervise his security."

"You're what?" Jet exploded, exchanging horrified looks with Spike. Bad enough they'd been boarded in the first place, the idea of a marshal staying on Bebop, snooping her nose into their business and making a pain in the ass of herself was enough to upset his stomach. "I don't think so."

"No shit," Faye muttered. She was completely on edge herself, both from their prisoner and the presence of law enforcement. Right now hiding in her room seemed the only viable option.

Spike only shrugged and lit a cigarette. Blowing a thin cloud of blue smoke into the air, he favored Higurashi with a grin. "Why not? We aren't the ones she's after. If she stays here it will be one more set of eyes to watch him."

Inuyasha yawned, scratching his chest. That damn stun wand hurt, goddamnit. "Damn, but I hate to be such a problem. Story of my life."

"You shut up," Higurashi snapped, giving him a meaningful look. "You have no say at all in this discussion.

He smirked. "You're pretty ballsy when you've got that toy in your hand, bitch." He met her gaze with a ruthless expression of his own. "I bet I could make you sing a different tune if you want to go a few rounds without it. It might even be fun."

The marshal's face flushed. "Keep your perverted thoughts to yourself, filth. And keep your mouth shut or I'll do more than just tickle you next time."

Inuyasha bared his teeth at her. "Bitch, I'll do more than tickle you if I get the chance. I'm not going to forgive that little zap either. You better pray I don't get the opportunity to pay you back." His eyes roamed over her appraisingly. "Although I have to admit you're a lot better looking than most fucking cops. I'd have to take my time and think up something special for you."

Higurashi looked like she was about to go nova, Spike thought. Moving with a deliberate casualness, he worked his way between them. "I think you should both calm down," he said quietly. This could get extremely ugly, extremely fast.

She took a deep breath and controlled herself with a visible effort, obviously aching to fry the bastard where he sat. Instead, she slipped the wand back into her belt and turned to her second. "Go, lieutenant. I can handle this from here."

Sango didn't hesitate, reacting to the dangerously calm tone of her superior's voice. "Yes, ma'am. I'll see to it immediately." The pretty officer swung her weapon back on her shoulder and went at a brisk jog back to her ship.

Inuyasha watched her with an obvious sneer. "Too bad, I liked the way she filled out her uniform."

Faye couldn't take it anymore. She whirled around and grabbed him by his vest and glowered into his face. "What the fuck is wrong with you?" she snarled. "Do you have to treat every woman you see like some kind of fucktoy? I swear to God if it wouldn't cost us twenty million I'd kill you myself, you disgusting degenerate."

"I'll second that," Spike muttered. He was starting to understand how this Hanyou seemed to generate disturbances wherever he went. He knew mercenaries with better personalities and more tact. Even his calm was starting to fray and Spike felt the uncharacteristic desire to pound the silver haired prisoner into the deck. Unpleasant didn't begin to cover the mood that was filling Bebop's hull.

Inuyasha met Faye's anger without a trace of reaction to her words. "What's it to you?" he whispered, his deep gold eyes fixing on her with suspicion. "Since when do bounty hunters give a rat's ass what a criminal like me says to a fucking cop?"

She shoved him hard into the couch and stalked away. "I don't care what you say or what you think," she said harshly. "The way you talk makes my stomach turn, that's all. Is that how you think of all women? What about your mother, do you treat her like garbage too?"

A flicker passed over his face and to her surprise, Inuyasha flushed and looked away. "No. She's been dead a long time."

He was embarrassed, even he didn't normally behave this badly, not without a lot of liquor to fuel his temper. And he never treated women like trash, he didn't know why he was being even more of an asshole than usual. It had to be that bitch marshal, using that joy stick of hers on him like a goddamn cattle prod as if he was some dumb animal she could force into submission.

He looked up and took a deep breath. This was probably one of his least favorite things to say. "I'm sorry, Faye."

There was a moment of shocked silence. The Hanyou just sat looking at his feet with his hair hiding his eyes. The marshal's face was impassive, only a slight softening of her dark eyes impressed that she'd been even heard his words. Faye blinked for a moment and shut her mouth so she wasn't gaping like a fish.

"Thanks," she said softly. It was rare enough that anyone apologized to her for anything, usually it was the other way around and she was the one who had to eat her words. Just for a second, she felt like wanted to smile at him, but resisted the urge when she felt Jet and Spike watching her. Embarrassed, she ignored them and left the room.

Jet turned to look at Kagome Higurashi. "Are you seriously going to stay aboard and guard him?" A faint smile surprised him and he scratched his head as she nodded.

"I certainly am."

Spike glanced over at the sullen looking prisoner. "To be truthful, I don't mind," he told the marshal, smiling slightly at her curious expression. "I'm not sure we have a cell that can hold him."

Inuyasha snorted. He seemed to have recovered from his brief moment of humility. "I'm sure you don't," he said with a grin. He looked around at them and his eyes narrowed thoughtfully.

"Don't get any ideas either. I have no intention of letting you people take me in." Just because he felt guilty about his trashy mouth for a moment in no way indicated that he was done with fighting. Leaning back, he crossed his arms behind his head and gave the marshal a directly challenging gaze. "What you got in mind, sweetheart?"

To his utter surprise, she laughed lightly. Her eyes were twinkling with mischief. "I guess I'll just have to watch you very closely, won't I?"

Spike and Jet both felt their jaws begin to drop. The Hanyou apologized and now the marshal was smiling. Could life on Bebop get any more twisted?

Inuyasha noticed that smiling made the marshal look much more approachable and damn, but she was fine. "If you're going to be friendly about it, I don't suppose I mind you watching me very closely indeed."

Higurashi actually giggled. "I'm sure you don't," she cooed, her voice sickeningly sweet.

Jet actually felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up. Even Inuyasha looked surprised at the abrupt change in her demeanor. He grinned, guessing she wasn't impervious to his charm after all. Jet and Spike stared in complete shock when Kagome Higurashi moved closer to her prisoner, still smiling softly. She bent over to look right into his pretty eyes.

"You're not going to give me any more trouble are you, Inuyasha?"

"Depends what you mean by trouble," he whispered thickly. Goddamn, she had to be the best looking cop he'd ever been assaulted by. Suddenly even federal lockup didn't look like that bad of an option. "If I do give you trouble, I guess you'll just have to keep me in line."

She leaned even closer, both her tiny hands on his shoulders and her face only inches from his. He leaned forward a bit, licking his lips in anticipation. She had to taste sweet.

Something cold clipped around his throat and his eyes widened at Kagome's smirk. "I can keep you line quite easy," she whispered mockingly.

Inuyasha scowled as she drew back and his hand touched the metal band she'd put on his neck. "What the hell is this?"

"Just a little insurance," she said brightly.

Jet peered at it, didn't look like any restraint he'd ever seen before. It was a light metal, studded with dark purplish diodes. Every fourth light was white instead of purple. "Major, what is that thing?"

Kagome didn't answer immediately, drawing a small unit from her pocket and touching buttons. "You'll see."

Inuyasha was pissed. First of all that she'd tricked him by flirting so cutely, then that she'd stuck something on him. He stood up and folded his arms confidently. "I can rip this off without hardly trying."

She flashed him a smile. "Then try." She was still fiddling with the control, her lips curved in what Spike couldn't help but call a damn sexy grin. Inuyasha raised his eyebrows, enjoying the challenge.

"You asked for it," he said and grasped the edge of the collar.

He was promptly rewarded with a flash of light and a burning sensation in his fingers. The air smelled singed. "Damn it!"

Kagome's laugh rang merrily. "Only the latest innovation in non lethal restraint." With a flash of a smile, she held up her control. "Sit boy!"

Nothing happened and Inuyasha glared at her, catching the insult. "Was that supposed to impress me, bitch?"

The marshal had stopped smiling and looked at him seriously. "No, that was to set the voice command. That collar is now cued to my voice and my voice alone. Only an enforcement center can reprogram it.

"Sit boy."

Inuyasha slammed face first into the deck and both Jet and Spike flinched in sympathy. Higurashi had turned back into the icy authority.

"That's what you'll get if you aren't cooperative," her voice hard as the steel plates of Bebop's deck. "If you escape and get farther away from me than a klick, it will detonate the failsafe and your head will be forcibly separated from your body. The same will happen if my vital signs are interrupted at any time. I suggest you pray for my good health until the end of this trip."

"How do I know you aren't bullshitting me?" he snarled.

Her eyes glittered at him dangerously. "You don't."

"You miserable, vindictive, sadistic..."

"Sit boy."


	5. Five

Inuyasha was stretched out on the couch, one arm curled under his head like a pillow and the other rested easily on his hip. His eyes were closed, his breathing deep and regular and every once in awhile one of his ears would twitch to a random noise generated by Bebop's systems. Asleep like this, he looked almost angelic, a sweet silver-haired innocent who had nothing to do with criminal behavior, bounty hunters or one seriously wound up federal marshal. Instead, he looked like he was completely relaxed, enjoying the best sleep he'd had in months.

Spike didn't buy it for a minute.

Across from the sleeping hanyou, Spike was also feigning unconsciousness. His lanky form was sprawled carelessly across the seat, arms casually crossed behind his head as he leaned back easily, a faint snore issuing from his mouth. Jet stood in the doorway for a few moments, watching the peaceful scene, one corner of his mouth bent in humor. He went over to nudge Spike with the tip of his boot, jostling him until one of Spike's eyelids pried open to look at him.

"Your shift's over. You can quit faking being asleep, Spike."

His partner stretched lazily before poking an unlit cigarette between his lips. "Who's faking it? I was out like a light."

"Bullshit," Jet said, grinning. "You're no more asleep than he is."

He looked over at their prisoner who hadn't so much as stirred. Jet had decided he wanted the guy in plain sight, he wasn't willing to risk another breakout, thanking whatever had been listening that the Hanyou had headed straight for their transports instead of a weapons locker. He still couldn't quite grasp how Ed had managed to track him before the rest of them, but he gathered Ein had something to do with it. He looked at the soft white triangle of an ear peeping out of the silver hair and had to shake his head.

Spike had gotten up and ambled away, perhaps heading back to his bunk for a more realistic attempt at sleep. Jet flopped down into the recently vacated chair and folded his arms across his chest and shot the prisoner an intimidating glare. "I know you aren't sleeping."

"How can I sleep with you clumping around?" the hanyou said softly, still not opening his eyes. "At least the other guy was quiet."

He sat up at last, scratching at the back of his head and yawning. "You got anything to eat around here?"

"No," Jet growled menacingly. Punk could wait to eat until he said it was time to eat, Jet had no intentions of jumping to each of their prisoner's requests just because they had to let him walk around loose on the ship.

The guy fixed him with a stare, his eyes having a faint shimmer in the dimness of the room. "Okay, never mind the food. I can wait. I've been wanting to talk to you anyway."

Jet's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "What about?"

Inuyasha slumped a little on the couch, his finger rubbing around the edge of the restraint collar he'd been fixed with. "You're in charge of this group right?"

"It's my ship," Jet rumbled. In charge was a different story, he told Bebop where to go and managed her systems and accounts, but it had been a long time since he'd thought of himself in charge of anything. Just try telling Spike or Faye what to do, he thought sourly. They usually had some kind of consensus on what bounties to go after, but after that, they all preferred to stay out of each other's way.

And that's how Jet liked it, he didn't need to be responsible for anyone else's problems.

The young man across from his shrugged. "Just a word of warning, you guys seem decent for cowboys so I don't mind helping you out. Watch that marshal, she's going to do whatever she can to screw you out of your bounty."

"Oh yeah?" Jet sneered. He didn't need advice from some dog-eared kid that claimed to be half alien. "You think I need a punk like you to tell me to watch out for the fed? Don't make me laugh."

"I've seen the type before," the hanyou murmured, looking at the floor between his feet. "Career officer, believe me, she hates you almost as much as she hates me. Local enforcement knows they have to deal with bounty hunters, they don't have the manpower to bring people in. It's a different story when it's the feds that are after you. They don't need help and they don't say thank you. They especially don't pay bounty."

"Talking out your ass," Jet muttered, looking away. Most of what the kid said he'd have to agree with. It was exactly why he hadn't released his prisoner to the feds in the first place. They'd never see their money and being left shit out of luck after a run like this wasn't in Jet's game plan.

Inuyasha leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees and gave Jet the most direct look he could manage cold sober. "You'll be lucky if all she does is screw you out of your bounty. Feds are capable of impounding this ship just because I was here. As soon as you turn me over, you could find yourself sitting dockside while they tear your craft to pieces. Then they'll want you to pay their dock fees, even if you can't move this tub for months because of their inspection."

Jet's expression didn't change, but he felt sick inside. As a former enforcement officer himself, he knew well the regulations that would permit just such an action. Which was why he didn't like having a marshal on his ship in the first place. All she had to do was start a report stating she was suspicious and every time they tried to make planetfall they'd have nightmares.

Customs inspections from hell, mandatory log downloads, even their accounts could be frozen if Major Higurashi wanted to make their lives difficult. And the one to blame for this mess was sitting right across from him, looking innocent as a newborn and talking about trying to help him.

"What do you suggest?" Jet asked, mainly to see what kind of plot the hanyou intended to spin.

Inuyasha grinned, leaning back comfortably. "I can make all your problems disappear and put money in your pocket at the same time. Don't go to the enforcement center, don't let Higurashi take me in. It's still your ship at the moment, I can tell you where to go. As soon as I get word to my father, he'll be more than happy to pay you for your help in keeping me out of lockup.

"Your father?" Jet asked dryly, scratching his chin. "You aren't seriously expecting me to buy that bullshit story that you're the son of Inutaisho, are you? Because I've been hearing tall tales about him for so many years that even I don't believe them anymore. It might get you free drinks in some dive bars, but I'm not about to gamble away a twenty million bounty on the faith that your daddy is going to come get you."

The young man's eyes flashed. "I'm not lying," he snapped. "You think I'd waste my time bullshitting a bunch of stupid bounty hunters? I just thought that maybe we could both help ourselves out. My father will pay your bounty, and no, he doesn't give a shit if you believe he's real or not. The money will be real and that's what matters."

"Sounds to me like you're just saying whatever you think will keep you out of Higurashi's hands," Jet said, smiling a little. He knew the guy couldn't like having that collar on his neck, he didn't know if he believed the major's story that it would explode if she was too far away from it either. Might be interesting, put the snot in a pod and float him outside, see if he went boom. Be a quick end to his problems.

But not the end that would get them paid, so he scratched the idea of experimenting. However, he wasn't entirely unsympathetic, he wasn't an ogre, and figured the fast talking punk was probably just scared spitless of federal holding cells. Couldn't blame him there, Jet wouldn't send his worst enemy to a federal lockup. Not unless there was a bounty involved.

"Listen up, kid," he began mildly.

Inuyasha looked annoyed. "Don't call me, kid. I'm older than you are, asshole."

Okay, forget the fucking sympathy, Jet decided. "Listen up Hanyou, or whatever you want to call yourself. I'm not crossing that marshal for you. I'm surprised that all she did was insist on boarding. I would have thought I'd have five cruisers on my butt by now and her waving a handful of warrants in my face. She seems to be playing straight with us and I'm not going to screw that over your ass. All I want is my money and what happens to you is not my problem. You talk to Higurashi if you want to make a deal, not me."

"Excellent notion, Jet," a soft voice said from somewhere behind him. He jumped in spite of himself when Kagome Higurashi came up and let her hand touch his shoulder.

Jet glared at her, purely disliking the woman for listening in to the conversation although he knew she had the right to keep on eye on what she thought of as 'her' prisoner. "You would be making a very great mistake to treat me as your enemy."

"I'm not planning on making anyone my enemy," he snapped in irritation. "The sooner I've got the both of you off Bebop and looking at twenty million in my account the happier I'm going to be." He stood up and stalked away, let the marshal keep an eye on her boy if she was up and around. He had plenty of other things to keep his time occupied.

Inuyasha followed the woman with his eyes as she sat down across from him. Kagome noticed the intent direction of his gaze and sighed inwardly. Such a lech, everything she'd heard about this one was true so far. Including the fact that he just wasn't smart enough to understand what kind of trouble he was in.

She crossed her legs and ignored the sly smile when he watched her tidy uniform tighten around her hips. "I have to admit," she said finally, looking up to meet his golden eyes. "You're a bit of a disappointment."

That made his gaze sharpen with anger, not liking the dismissive tone to her voice. "Disappointment?" He made himself relax, he could play whatever game she wanted to throw out at him. "I don't see how you could say that, you don't know anything about me. Now if you want to get a little closer, maybe I could..."

"Spare me," she said, waving her gloved hand. "I'm not some dockside whore you can flirt with, Inuyasha. I simply meant that I expected more intelligence out of Inutaisho's son."

The mention of his father's name made the smirk ease off his face. Sullenly, he looked away and folded his arms over his chest. "Bitch," he said softly. "If you ever met my father you'd know that your human opinion doesn't matter a flying fuck when it comes to what he wants."

Her eyebrow raised at his tone. "Really?" she said coldly, taking out her stun wand and tapping it on her leg in an idle gesture. He didn't miss it, or the implied threat. "I was merely commenting that if you wanted to be intelligent about your situation, you might consider cooperating with us."

Inuyasha shot her a look that was colder than the deep dark of space. "You must really think I'm an idiot if you think I'd ever betray him. I do want to live, Major. Alive in a holding cell is preferable to what my father would do to me if I betrayed him."

"Such a pity," she murmured. "A handsome young man like yourself doesn't deserve to spend decades in prison."

He snorted. "I don't age fast, bitch. I can do time standing on my head. Won't be long anyway, my father isn't about to just leave me there."

Her smile became sweet. "I imagine you're right about that. Although I doubt it has anything to do with paternal affection when you tell me that. Is it you that he'll come after or just the Shikon no Tama?"

He was across the room like a lightning strike, grabbing her by the front of her uniform and hauling her out of her chair. "How do you know about that?" he demanded, his claws leaving rents in her pristine uniform. "Where did you hear about the Shikon?"

A sharp tap to his abdomen and a burning sound made him drop her and back off, wincing. Kagome's stun wand slipped back into her belt. "That's better," she grinned, enjoying his discomfort. "You should know better than to manhandle a federal marshal."

"Where did you hear about it?" he growled, still defiant. His father was going to have a magnificent rage over this. The Shikon was way more important than he dared admit to and if this federal bitch knew about it, he was in some serious deep shit.

"The government has its sources," she said sweetly.

His eyes met hers angrily. "You don't know who or what you're messing with, woman. If you're smart, you'll let me the hell out of here and pretend you never heard of the Shikon no Tama. Inutaisho isn't above killing feds to get what he wants."

"I know," she said sharply. "And I'm not above killing you to get what I want either. You can tell me what you know now, or you can tell me what you know when I've got you under interrogation. It's your choice. I have access to drugs and methods that will make even a hanyou talk."

"Okay," he said, flopping back down and covering his face with his hands. "You don't have to threaten me. You want to know where the Shikon no Tama is, I want it off my hands. If I tell you where it's hidden, you have to promise to let me go. I'm going to need time to run if my father finds out it was me."

"Go on," she said, walking over to him. "Tell me what you know and then I'll decide if it's worth it."

Inuyasha shook his head. "Not here, they could be listening. Get me off this tub and I'll tell you everything."

Kagome tapped her fingers on her sleeve in annoyance. "I doubt if a stupid bunch of bounty hunters could understand what we're discussing. I'm not taking you anywhere before you give me the information I need."

He growled lightly, then subsided. "All right," he told her, defeat sounding in his voice as he rubbed his face wearily. God, what a fucking mess. "Sit down," he muttered. "I'll tell you what I know, but it's not going to be much help. I just don't want those damn cowboys getting wind of it. I'm in enough trouble as it is."

Smirking, she planted herself next to him, confident that her collar and stun wand would keep him from trying any nasty little tricks. "Well," she said, imperious and demanding. "It had better be the truth."

He spun around and grabbed her, pinning her to couch before her hands could reach the wand, covering her mouth with his before she could shout a command. Her wrists were held tight by his hands and he used the greater weight of his body to keep her from struggling away from him.

Kagome fought hard, twisting her face away from his, trying to break the kiss that kept her from sitting him into the floor. His tongue shoved angrily against her teeth, demanding and furious. Kagome couldn't breathe and jerked her head to buy a little air and his lips crushed hers. He suddenly had one of her arms pinned between the couch and his thigh, using his free hand to massage her breast.

Then he eased back gently, taking her face in his hand so he could deepen the kiss. Her jaw had unlocked and he was free to run his tongue around the inside of the marshal's mouth, hearing her gasp and twitch under him. Her scent changed slightly and it made him want to laugh. Her arousal filled his senses. She liked it, just like any other woman, this one wanted kissed.

Maybe needed kissed a lot more than others, he reflected. For a marshal, she certainly had an unbearably hot body, he could feel the contours of her underneath him and wanted her badly. He was ready to fuck her brains out right here and now, to hell with cowboys or Shikon no Tama. Inuyasha growled softly, releasing her lips to run his tongue down her throat and let go of her trapped wrist to use both hands in removing that uniform.

And promptly got an open palmed strike in his face, nearly hard enough to break his nose. The marshal twisted suddenly, throwing the startled hanyou off her as she sat up and let loose a shout.

"Sit!"

WHAM! He heard his head connect with the metal of Bebop's plated deck. Angry, he pulled himself up, ready to disembowel her.

"Sit, sit, sit, SIT!"

Again and again he was thrown into the floor, it was unlike anything he'd experienced before. His whole body contracted, viciously propelling itself against the floor and his head started to throb from the repeated blows.

"Sit, sit, sit, SIT!" Kagome shouted again, getting to her feet and kicking him hard in the ribs between sits. The hanyou seemed to have lost consciousness, his body flopping helplessly as the repeated sits made his limbs move under neurological compulsion. Finally, she realized he couldn't feel any pain and was beyond the sound of her voice and she stopped, giving him one last angry kick before stalking away.

"Pervert bastard!"

She straightened her clothing and glared at unconscious man. "You can add attempted rape of a federal marshal to your file now, you son of a bitch."

**oOo**

Something warm and wet was stroking his face, asking him to wake up. "Go away, honey," he moaned, twitching away. "I'm wrecked, I can't do no more." She moved back, then he heard a sharp yip for attention. His eyes came open immediately and his nose wrinkled as the Welsh corgi's warm breath breezed across his face. Inuyasha looked up at Ein blearily for a moment before putting both hands to his bruised head.

Groaning he tried to turn over and fall back to blissful unconsciousness but a face right in front of his darted forward, staring fixedly into his eyes. "Damn it!"

Edward sat back, her legs curling under her. "Silly," she teased. "The pretty lady beat you up."

"No fucking kidding," he answered, glaring at the girl. He thought she was a girl anyway, the scent was all wrong for a male. He took in Ein's happy panting grin and the stubby rump that was vibrating like it wished for a tail to wag.

Irritated, he glared at the dog. "You're a traitor to your own kind."

Ed giggled wildly, falling over on her side. "Ed saw the whole thing, she didn't like being kissed."

"You're wrong," he snapped peevishly. "She did like being kissed, that's why she hit me so hard." Women, why did he constantly have these problems with women? Why was it that a raven haired beauty could reel him in so easily? First that fucking evil programmer now a federal marshal. He really needed to get his priorities sorted out.

He looked wearily at was probably one of his captors, at least this one was grinning instead of trying to suss him out. "Kid," he said easily. "You got anything to drink on this tub?"

To his surprise, Edward started jumping up and down in excitement. "Yes, yes, yes! Follow Edward if you want some."

The strange girl dashed off, the corgi nipping playfully at her heels. Inuyasha scowled, then got to his feet slowly, a dull ache settling in his lower back. Fucking wench kicked the crap out of him while he was down. No broken bones, but the bruises would be nasty while they lasted. He needed to drown his sorrows and try not to think about the misery his life was taking.

"This is the worst day since yesterday."


	6. Six

Restlessly, he paced the wide, long deck of the gunship, one ear listening to the comm chatter as he reflected on the circumstances of this mission. Cold golden eyes regarded the view screen, taking in the vast, pristine beauty of space. He much preferred the deep dark of the void, hating the noise and the smells of human habitation.

Not that he had any excuse to visit human habitations, other than the occasional refueling or to let his crew have some much needed shore leave. Personally, he preferred to stay aboard his ship, he had no interest in the entertainments that humans enjoyed.

His communications officer approached him, handing him a readout of a recently received transmission. "We've located him, sir," she said quietly. "He was taken aboard a bounty hunter's ship one solar day ago. These are the coordinates and the specs."

"Thank you, Rin," he said quietly, examining the information. His lip curled disdainfully. Bounty hunters, it was utterly ridiculous. His annoyance with his half brother deepened, insulted by the fact that he was the one who had to go chasing after the fool who'd managed to get himself picked up once again. However, his father had been most specific in his instructions. He himself thought a few years in a dark human cell might cure his incorrigible sibling of his carelessness.

Sesshomaru sighed heavily and dropped the information slip on his pilot's console. "Set a course for these coordinates, Shippou," he murmured.

The red haired young youkai grinned at him, almost as insolently as his brother would have. "We're going to go pick him up, sir?"

"Yes," he said, turning back to the view screen and the fascination of empty space. Clean, cold and impersonal, he felt a kinship with the sparkling darkness. The thought of dealing with base cowboys made him deeply irritated. Clawed fingers unconsciously contracted into fists. He would not take out his temper on his crew but he had every intention of making sure that Inuyasha was painfully aware of how much his stupidity had vexed his older brother.

**oOo**

Spike was wandering his way back up to the main room. In spite of his turn at guard duty, he was still too restless for sleep. He'd personally feel more at ease once they had delivered their cargo and removed a certain federal presence from Bebop. So far, what had looked like an easy bounty head was turning more and more complicated.

It wasn't anyone's fault, it seemed like sometimes the universe had it in for them. He shrugged, a thin cloud of blue smoke encircling his hair like a halo. One way or another, he was damned well going to make sure they got paid for this one.

Jet shared his opinion, he was certain. His partner's black look when they'd crossed paths a few moments earlier spoke volumes about their prisoner and their...guest? He wasn't sure he was ready to refer to a federal marshal as a guest. Jet couldn't stand the woman, she put the hair on the back of his neck up, so he said.

Other than the uneasiness of her official presence, Spike didn't see anything that offensive about the woman. Certainly, she had to be a hardass, it was her job. There was no reason to put themselves at odds with her. Her job was to bring in the Hanyou, same as theirs. As long as Kagome Higurashi was playing straight with them, he had no objections to voice about her presence or anything she wanted to do to keep that strange criminal in line.

"Damn you, you're CHEATING again!"

He stopped, his head swiveling back to where he'd heard the shout emanate. That sounded like Inuyasha. Spike backtracked to the passage where the voice had echoed from, a faint frown crossing his face when he realized what room the hanyou's voice had come from.

Ed's room, he thought, his brow furrowing.

Spike stopped dead in the doorway, not quite believing what he was seeing. Ed and their prisoner were crouched on the floor in front of a console, wearing identical goggles as they avidly played some kind of computer game. On the floor were a couple empty bottles and Spike felt the beginnings of a smile cross his lips. He went to stand just behind them, neither Ed nor Inuyasha seemed to notice his presence, focused on the game and Ed's giggle suddenly pierced the air.

"I win," she shrieked.

Inuyasha growled low in his throat. "You're a cheating little brat, you know that?" He ripped the goggles off and reached for the next bottle, pouring the liquor down his throat. Spike leaned over and picked up an empty one.

"Ed," he said mildly. "I think Jet was saving this for a special occasion."

Her bright eyes found his as she also removed her goggles. "It is a special occasion," she giggled, her hands wiggling at him with her restless energy. The girl bounced to her feet, twirling around like a little whirlwind. "We caught the Hanyou."

Inuyasha grunted, but didn't look up when Edward draped herself affectionately over him. "Spike, I think we should keep him. Ein likes him." Her smile turned wicked. "So does Faye."

"Yeah, I'm real popular," the hanyou growled. It was mainly for Spike's benefit, the display of temper. He actually found himself liking this weird kid, at least she didn't look at him like he was a freak or a criminal. She'd spent a good fifteen minutes pulling on his ears before she believed they were real, but he was used to that. Humans were drawn to those fuzzy little appendages like flies to honey. Inuyasha took another swig and shrugged his shoulders to dump Edward off him.

She caught herself with unconscious grace and danced around the room. "His father is a pirate, Spike," the girl said, hooking her legs over a pipe from the ceiling and staring at him from upside down. "He says his father will pay us a lot more money if we don't turn him in."

Spike grinned, so he was working on Ed now, was he? "Sorry," he said in a mild, unconcerned tone. "I think you'll have to convince Major Higurashi to let him go, not me."

"Fucking bitch," Inuyasha muttered. His ribs still hurt and his claws twitched. One way or another, he was going to pay her back for that. Maybe he'd deserved some of those sits, he did throw the marshal on her back and kiss the living hell out of her.

But damn it, he swore he'd thought she was getting into it for a moment. Her lips had softened under his, she'd opened her mouth to let him slip his tongue inside. A wicked grin flashed across his face. Uptight bitch of a fed or not, sadistic cop from hell, she tasted sweeter than warm sakura blossoms in the sun.

He felt a waver of homesickness for the planet of his birth, so far away from human worlds it was thought of as a myth, a bedtime story for humans. Youkai didn't exist, he boasted about his heritage in bars, told tall tales about his father. It got him free drinks, sometimes it got him challenges. His looks got him into more women's beds than bragging about space pirates. In spite of the ears, everyone thought he was just a showy loudmouth, full of bullshit and space dust, making his way from lechery to debauchery to criminal activity. For the most part, it worked out pretty good.

Until he managed to get himself too shitfaced to move and passed out in a whorehouse. Damn, but his father was going to kill him this time.

Ignoring the bounty hunter standing behind him, he finished off the last bottle of what someone obviously thought was scotch whiskey, he'd sure had better, and snapped the goggles back on his face before turning to Ed. "You wanna go again?"

She nodded vigorously, plopping herself next to him. "What do I get when I win?"

Inuyasha glared at her. "I'll decide that. This time, no cheating or I swear I'm putting you over my knee and making that rump of yours as red as your hair."

Edward chuckled wildly at that. "If you can catch Edward. No cheating, I promise."

"Yeah, right," he muttered, focusing on the game again.

**oOo**

Faye yawned as she came out of her room, her fingers brushing lightly through her hair. She must have been tired, she'd managed to get several hours of good, uninterrupted sleep. She felt so much better now, realizing how stressed she must have been.

Now she was hungry, wondering if Jet had actually stocked anything decent to eat for this trip. She didn't care for instant noodles or one of his questionable creations. Faye also didn't like to cook and often found herself stuck with whatever Spike or Jet chose to bring aboard. Oh, they'd cursed her out more than once, told her to buy her own damn provisions if she didn't like what Jet kept on hand. She stretched lazily, smiling to herself.

Like she didn't have better things to spend her money on.

As soon as they got their bounty, she was heading for that new casino that had been built in Jupiter's orbit. It sounded like heaven to her, the place was supposed to be huge and stocked with every game known to man. Also, because of its newness, Faye was positive that they couldn't have worked all the bugs out of their security. They relied on professionals, like herself, to show them where the holes in their systems were. For the life of her, she couldn't understand why casino security didn't see it that way.

In any case, with a little luck and a bit of ingenuity, she felt she could make herself a tidy wad of cash, maybe enough to take a vacation from bounty hunting. The Bebop was starting to wear on her nerves once again and Faye felt a vacation away from her partners was just what she needed the most.

She was just about to cross into the main passage that would take her up to the galley when something moving way too fast whipped past her, a strangely shaped blur of red and silver. She stopped, catching her balance against the wall and heard Ed's shout of laughter.

He appeared right in front of her, breathing a little hard and stared right into her eyes. "Hello gorgeous!"

Faye pulled back instinctively, glaring at him. "Who let you loose, aren't you supposed to be under guard?"

Edward's head popped up from the back of the silvery hair, grinning at her. "He's under Edward's guard, Faye!"

She planted her hands on her hips and glared at them both. "I just bet," she muttered, taking in the grins and in Inuyasha's case, appreciative leer. "Can't you give it a rest?"

"Mmmm..." he answered, still grinning at her. "No, I probably can't give it a rest, but maybe if someone was to help me wear it out..."

"Shut up, you pig," she muttered, shoving past him.

Inuyasha dumped Edward off his back with a squeal so he could pursue Faye. "Ah, come on, I'm just kidding around, where's your sense of humor?"

"I don't have one," she snapped, tossing her hair out of her face as she tried to storm away. He was making that difficult by following her so closely. Finally, she spun around and poked him hard in the chest. "Just leave me alone!"

Inuyasha grabbed the poking hand, his fingers caressing her wrist soothingly. "Why should I leave you alone, I think you're fun. Admit it, under different circumstances, you might like me just a little."

"I doubt it," she said dryly, but didn't yank her hand back. Inuyasha took that as an opening and gently pried apart the fisting fingers.

"Hmmm," he said, eyes twinkling at her. "My mother was a gypsy, you know. She taught me how to read palms to tell your future."

God, could that line get any lamer? She took note of the challenge in his gaze and decided to play along. Sooner or later, he'd give her an opening and she'd show him that Faye Valentine was no woman to be trifled with. "Okay, Mr. Hanyou, tell me my future."

Inuyasha peered intently at her palm, fingertips still stroking her trapped wrist sensuously. Under different circumstances, Faye thought she might have enjoyed the light caress. Oh, who the hell did she think she was kidding? She was enjoying it right now otherwise she would have snapped her hand out of his grasp and given him a sharp crack to the jaw.

Instead, she felt her spine relax against her will, her shoulders moved to lean against the wall as Inuyasha's fingers made lazy circles on her skin, moving softly from her wrist, up her forearm to the sensitive skin of her inner elbow.

"Well," he began, a serious look in his eyes. "I can see that you are a woman who is always on your guard. You don't let people get close to you, you like to stay on the move."

Faye grinned at him. "You'll have to do better than that, hotshot. Tell my future or let go of my arm."

He sighed lightly, looking back down at her hand. The tip of his claw gently traced the lines of her hand. "Your future is very mysterious, Faye. I see a lot of adventure, a lot of excitement."

"Just what I needed," she muttered.

"And," he continued as if he hadn't heard her. "I can see you becoming extremely wealthy some day. I see a large house, filled with beautiful things, all of which pale in comparison to the beauty of their mistress."

This was getting better, she decided. "Hey," she said, leaning a little closer to him. "Tell me where I got my money, that's what I want to know. Was it at the track?"

Likes the ponies, he thought wryly. "I can't tell for sure," he said, keeping his tone serious. "It's not like I have all the details, but one thing is for certain. Your future could go either way, continue on the path you walk now, and this possible future might not ever come to be."

What a jerk, she thought, scowling. Next he's going to tell me that if I help him make his escape, his big bad daddy is going to give me that house and wealth. "You're bullshitting me, aren't you? she accused.

His flash of a smile caught her breath in her throat. Suddenly, Faye was very aware of how close he was standing, how his fingers had never stopped exploring her skin. He raised her palm to his mouth, his breath hot on her skin, whispering across her fingers. Delicately, as if she were a rare treat, he licked the palm of her hand. Her swift intake of breath encouraged him and he touched the tip of his tongue to her hand again, then pressed a kiss into it like a gift.

Faye's heart was beating fast, she couldn't remember the last time someone has so sensuously and delicately tried to seduce her. It was all wrong, that much she knew. He was trying to use her somehow for his own gain, that was something she had a hell of a lot more experience with. What now, her mind raced, is he going to try to kiss me again? She was half hoping he would, her eyes focusing on his mouth. Faye unconsciously licked her lips and waited for him to take her in his arms.

Inuyasha dropped her hand, stepping away from her. "I'm not bullshitting anyone," he said softly, his eyes glowing faintly. "You think I'm playing a game with you, trying to use you. Maybe I would do something like that sometimes, but not now and not with you. I don't use women I like."

She stared after him, embarrassed that he'd read her so easily. More embarrassed that her knees were trembling and the feel of his lips on her palm was making her feel weak and shaky in the pit of his stomach. It pissed her off too. "That's it?" she snapped at him. "You like me, what a crock of shit!"

He swung back around and looked at her, his hair falling over his shoulder. "Just because you're too paranoid to let anyone in doesn't mean the rest of us are like that. Don't project your issues onto me, Faye."

She was livid and Faye wished hard that that she had the marshal's stun wand. How dare he think he could get away with talking to her like that? He was the bounty head, he was the criminal that they were taking in. He hadn't earned the right to talk to her like he knew her, not by a long fucking shot he hadn't!

"Don't you talk down to me," she snarled in irritation. "Don't you think for one minute you know anything about me because you don't. You're just mean, sneaking criminal who will do anything to stay out of a federal lock up. You don't care what game you have to play as long as you get what you're after. If you think I'm stupid enough to let you get to me, I'm going to..."

His arms swept her up, planting a kiss right on her angry mouth. Faye was stunned, her hands hanging limp at her sides. His lips were firm and gentle at the same time, his tongue moving lazily to claim hers in a slow caress that deepened gradually. Faye's hands clenched into fists as her arms went around him quite involuntarily.

Oh my god, what am I doing, she thought.

The floor shook hard under them, Faye would have fallen if Inuyasha's arms hadn't been holding her steady. Klaxons started to wail as the lighting flickered and bathed the passage in a eerie glow. "What the fuck?" Inuyasha muttered, looking up. Damn, hell of a time for an interruption. He couldn't help but shake his head at the shitty timing.

The comm speaker behind them crackled suddenly to life, Jet's voice blaring harshly at them. "Faye, Spike," he snarled. "We're under attack, get your asses up here."

Attack? Inuyasha spared one quick look at Faye's flushed face before grabbing her roughly by the arm and dragging her to the command deck. "Come on, woman, didn't you hear? Someone is attacking this ship."

"And what do you think you're going to do about it, Hanyou," a voice sneered behind him. Major Higurashi was advancing on them, a dark look on her face as she fingered her stun wand. "I don't think the crew of this ship will be needing any assistance from you."

He grinned in spite of her harsh words. "I'm not planning on helping," he told the marshal, noting the hard look in her eyes and the twitch of her fingers toward the wand. "I'm just too damn curious for my own good."

"Uh, Hanyou guy," Jet's tinny voice sounded from the speaker again. "You get up here too. And Major Higurashi, if you're listening."

"There you see," he said, gesturing in the vague direction of where Jet's voice had echoed. "Even the cowboys want us up there. Unless you'd rather pout about it."

Kagome hissed as she stalked by him, catching Faye's surprised look. "You sure do love pissing her off, don't you?" she asked, glancing up and meeting an amused golden gaze.

"Yeah," he said and licked his lips. Looked like things we're going to be dull any longer.


	7. Seven

**A/N: Yeah, I know. Hell must have frozen over because I'm updating this story. Heh, it's only been a year! FYI…I've edited the previous chapters as well, no new content, just a few small changes. I'd like to thank everyone who has sent me emails and reviews, asking for this story to continue. You must be really patient people to wait this long!**

Jet was mighty pissed off. Someone was firing at his ship, _his ship, _and didn't even have the decency to open comm and tell him why. Goddamnit, why was their luck always such shit?

"Who is it?" Spike demanded, leaning over the console as if by staring at the screens he could force answers from them.

Jet glared at him. "That's what I wanna know," he growled, punching buttons with a sense of suppressed fury and desperation. He tried again to open a hail and had no luck. Something big and powerful had appeared on their six and Bebop's hull shook again as some kind of concussion weapon was fired.

The scan was blank, innocently informing him that despite the damage they were taking there was nothing out there. Jet ignored the lying screens, relying instead on the visual pickups he'd had mounted to Bebop's exterior. Something was jamming their electronics; they couldn't even open a ship-to-ship hail to ask what the hell they wanted.

Or beg for their lives.

Spike and Jet focused their attention on the grainy visuals. Jet had installed the cameras some months back as a rig for dockside security. If anyone was sneaking up on Bebop while she sat in port, he wanted to know about it. He'd never thought he'd be forced to rely on it in the deep dark of space.

All they could see was the blurry outline of some kind of craft, too large to get a positive id since the cheap cameras couldn't pan back far enough. They couldn't make out any kind of markings, not so much as the color of the paint that graced her hull. And Jet didn't need the visuals to understand their attacker was very well armed.

"Goddamnit," he roared, slapping the useless mic even though he knew his trans was blocked. "At least tell me why you're trying to kill me!"

Spike snorted and threw a cigarette on the deck without even bothering to crush it out. "I'm going outside," he said, glaring at Jet as if he expected his partner to try and talk him out of such a fool rash action. "We can't even get info to the outside guns, I'm not gonna sit here while some psycho uses us for target practice."

The ship shook again and this time the screens flickered as if making a last, desperate attempt to convey information. Jet muttered to himself as he slapped at the controls, trying to find out how badly Bebop was hurting. What he discovered didn't make him feel better. She was hurt pretty bad, worse than he'd thought.

"Son of a bitch," he cursed, rubbing his face with his hands. At Spike's silence, he glanced back at his partner and grimaced. "They're targeting our life support," he explained. "Bastards are trying to open us up like a can of meat. When we're all dead or in no condition to fight, they'll come in and just take what they want."

"I'm on it," Spike muttered as he headed towards the passage. "If I can get the swordfish out of the cargo hangar, I'll at least make sure I pay them back. Maybe you can make a run for it if I distract them long enough."

Jet opened his mouth to respond that he was crazy, that it was the most damn fool thing he'd ever heard, but he knew they didn't have any better options at this point. If the damage Bebop was already taking was any indication, Spike wouldn't last two minutes out there. Still, it might just give Bebop a shot at escape. If her engines didn't fail. If a hull breach didn't save them the trouble of even trying to run.

"How interesting. You didn't strike me as the type for a suicidal sacrifice, Mr. Spiegel."

Spike turned at the major's dry comment and brandished a grin that had nothing to do with humor. "I'm not. If you've got a better idea, I'm willing to listen, Major."

You'd think the one good thing about having a federal escort aboard would mean that they'd be safe from marauders. Jet snorted, folding his arms over his chest as Faye and the Hanyou followed Higurashi through the door. Faye's cheeks were flushed and when he sent his usual scowl in her direction, she dropped her eyes as if he'd just asked to see her private files. What was up with that? Never mind, they had worse problems. The last thing he wanted to think about was what Faye might be doing to pass the time with their 'prisoner' who had just flopped gracelessly onto the couch and put up his feet like he owned the place.

"Well," he sneered, catching the diminutive marshal's eye again. "I'd like to know what you're going to do about this. My ship is under attack; they're targeting life support and the engines in case you didn't notice. If you've got an armada of federal gunships in your back pocket, now would be a good time to bring them out."

She raised a delicate eyebrow. "I'm very sorry, captain," she said, her tone as crisp and by the book as any cop's he'd ever heard. "I must have left them in my other uniform."

The Hanyou snorted and Spike grinned, leaning against the wall as he reached into a pocket for a smoke. At least she hadn't lost her composure; he thought that might have actually been a joke from the uptight major. While her comment lightened the atmosphere temporarily, it did nothing to lighten the circumstances.

Bebop rocked suddenly, shuddering as she was hit by some kind of concussion weapon and her lights flickered ominously. Inuyasha sat up slowly, listening hard to the pained whine of the engines. The ship was doing the best she could, but he detected the sound of a dozen leaking valves and the slow hiss that means the air blowers were being taxed beyond their specs.

It didn't make him any happier to know that he alone might survive if there was a catastrophic breach. His enhanced physique meant that he could temporarily go without oxygen; even do an extended swim in hard vacuum if absolutely necessary. Not that he looked forward to the idea of freezing his balls off in a ship with no life support and a neg core temperature, but at least he might survive long enough for one of his father's ships to track him down.

His eyes were drawn to Faye, the woman looked outright frightened and he wondered again at her tough-girl act. Hard to be brave in the face of death, he decided grimly. Yeah, he would probably survive, but these humans…he'd seen what slow suffocation looked like when the environmental failed on a ship. And he'd also seen what a hull breach did to the human bodies that were unlucky enough to be exposed to harsh and unforgiving vacuum.

He'd take suffocation any day rather than go out with his blood boiling from the drop of ambient pressure. Bebop was going to be a tomb for these poor fools.

Inuyasha glanced up to see Higurashi giving him a speculative look. He wondered if she'd guessed what was going through his mind and flushed, looking away like it didn't matter to him. If she knew his personal history as well as she claimed, she knew damned well that the only one who might survive this attack would be him. Hell, maybe he should be looking forward to it, he didn't owe these cowboys a damned thing and as for that bitch marshal…

Jet jumped when Higurashi's gloved hand dropped to his shoulder. "I take it all of our communications have been jammed," she said quietly. At his nod of assent, she stepped away, neatly inserting herself at the second's station beside him. He stared as the woman reached into an immaculate pocket and withdrew a small slip of plastic.

"Here," she said, gesturing at the console. "Put these codes in. Your computer will be able to decrypt their signal. At least we'll be able to see who's attacking your ship."

Suspiciously, he handled the slim piece of plastic as if it might turn and bite at him. "Wait a minute," he growled, glaring at her. "I know what this is, I put this in my comm and you've got the overrides for every system on my ship. Any cop with authority to broadcast these codes can nail my hide to the deck. I won't do it!"

Higurashi glowered at him. "Don't be a fool," she hissed. "We haven't got a chance of living through this unless we can stop these bastards. You think it's an accident that they're blocking your comm and targeting your life support? They know that the Hanyou is on board, just like they know he'd be able to survive a hull breach!"

All eyes turned to Inuyasha and he flushed again, staring up at the ceiling so he wouldn't have to meet any accusing stares. "Not my fault," he muttered, hoping it was true. He didn't want to be responsible for anyone's deaths, not even Higurashi's. "I didn't say shit about it."

Jet and Spike reached the same, unpleasant conclusion at the same time. Acting as one, Jet slapped the marshal's ident into Bebop's reader while Spike launched himself across the room to grab a fistful of silver hair. Inuyasha yelped loudly in surprised pain and cocked back a fist to punch Spike in the face, but he was dropped to the deck before it could contact.

"Sit!" Higurashi snapped, not wanting a fistfight to add to their problems. She smirked in obvious pleasure as Spike hauled Inuyasha's now limp form from the deck and dragged him over to her. Blood was flowing freely from his mouth; he'd bitten his damn tongue when he went down.

"You're really getting on my nerves, bitch," he snarled, spraying the marshal's clean uniform with blood and saliva. Spike cuffed him hard across the head and the Hanyou growled menacingly at him. "Try that again, you bastard, when this bitch isn't around to get in my way."

"Love to," Spike said easily and shoved Inuyasha hard into a chair. Jet had produced a lethal looking pistol from somewhere under the console and aimed it right between the surly Hanyou's golden eyes. Across the room, he heard Faye's soft gasp of horror and thought smugly that at least one human in this room didn't want to see his brains splattered across Bebop's consoles.

"Jet, what are you doing?" Faye cried, rushing to her partner's side. "Have you lost your mind? He's worth nothing to us dead!"

Nice, Inuyasha thought sourly, contenting himself with a subdued leer at Faye's backside. It figured that she'd only care about his monetary value, but he did like a woman who had her priorities straight.

Jet didn't look at Faye, keeping his pistol trained on the Hanyou while Spike stood ready to knock his skull in if he didn't cooperate. "And I can't spend the bounty money when _I'm _dead," he sneered. "Which is why this punk is going to do what we tell him."

Inuyasha folded his arms over his chest and glared at the burly bounty hunter. "What do you want me to do about it?" The ship shuddered again and red lit the safety board, screaming that Bebop really didn't think she could hold it together much longer.

"As soon as the nice marshal's codes do their magic, you're gonna get on that comm and tell your daddy's people to stop trying to blow apart my ship!"

Inuyasha stared at Jet, realizing the man was perfectly serious although he couldn't know the absolute insanity of what he'd just said. "You think that's my father out there?" he asked incredulously.

"Not saying it ain't, are ya?"

Now he was pissed and he surged out of his chair to grab Higurashi by the arm. "It's not Inutaisho," he snarled, digging his claws into her arm. "You know damn well that he never murders humans. He wouldn't do it this way!"

Her eyes were cold and she reached up to pry his fingers from her rumpled sleeve. "I have no idea what lengths he might go to in order to protect his son," she said icily. "Whoever is firing on this ship knows that you're aboard and doesn't mind killing everyone else to get at you."

He clamped his mouth shut, knowing what she was getting at. She was trying to get him to admit to it, and damned if he was going to spill his guts in front of these fools. He'd die before he did that, die with Jet's bullet in his brain before he'd betray his father.

"Listen to me," he said quietly, catching everyone's attention with his subdued tone of voice. "Trust me, that's not my father. If it were, I'd just open up that comm and tell him to come and get me. You think he has to pry this ship apart by her welds just to take me out of here? He wouldn't kill everyone aboard just to keep me out of lock up."

Spike leaned over his shoulder, his hand a warning on the Hanyou's shoulder. "Why should we believe you?"

The Hanyou's gaze was full of defiance but he didn't seem to be bullshitting. "I got no reason to lie," he snarled.

A muted beeping sound drew everyone's attention from the tense stand off. Higurashi's codes were legit, Jet decided, grinning to himself as he started to pull data out of Bebop's sensors. What he found made him go pale and he looked sick.

"The life support is completely off line," he said, not addressing anyone in particular. "I thought it was strange they'd stopped firing. Guess they know we're already dead because there's a partial breach in the lower decks where the environmental equipment is housed. We've been bleeding air and power ever since the first hit."

"Shit!" Faye had barely been able to contain her agitation and now she wished to hell that she'd followed her instincts and ran for her own craft when the explosions had first sounded. She wasn't the target, hell; she wasn't even on the marshal's hate list. No reason they would have shot her down, she could have slipped quietly away instead of waiting here until their options were down to nothing.

Inuyasha grinned at her, catching the harried expression in her eyes. "Told ya you should have run away with me," he said mildly, enjoying the flash of annoyance that made her eyes sparkle so prettily. "We could be having a good time instead of waiting for the air to run out on this bucket."

"Hey!" Jet leaned across the console and glowered at the Hanyou. "This is your fault, brat," he growled, tapping the kid on the head with the muzzle of his pistol. "I already told you that if we die, you die with us. Now put that fuzzy head of yours to work and think of who's desperate enough to murder us just to lay hands on your mangy hide."

Inuyasha hunched his shoulders, looking more like a petulant child than an outlaw with a twenty million bounty on his head. "I told you I don't know," he said sullenly, picking at his claws. "Could be anybody, I've pissed a few people off bad enough that they'd kill to get at me."

"I don't think so," Higurashi said quietly. She stepped over the pissed off Hanyou and slowly pulled her stun wand from her belt. "Tell me the truth, Inuyasha. Tell me where you're hiding it. If that's not the youkai Inutaisho out there, it's someone that wants what you have. I don't think anyone would go to this much trouble over a simple grudge. The Shikon no Tama, on the other hand…"

"Shut up!" He tried to get up and run at her, but Spike jumped behind him and clamped both hands down on the guy's shoulders to keep him sitting.

"Maybe you should listen to the marshal," he said quietly. "In case you didn't notice, she's got that toy of hers set to max, more than enough to scramble whatever you call brains. Just answer the question, man. We're running out of time."

Inuyasha looked like he wanted to throw up all over the petite enforcement officer, but he swallowed his disgust and muttered a name that meant nothing to Spike or Jet, but Kagome Higurashi suddenly darted forward and grabbed one of Inuyasha's ears in a torturous grip.

"Naraku?" she shouted, her eyes filled with immeasurable fury. "You let the Shikon fall into Naraku's hands? You stupid, ignorant fool!"

The Hanyou made a sound that was somewhere between a whimper and a whine. "Let go of my fucking ear! It wasn't my fault; I didn't know she was working for him. I thought she was just some hot programmer, said weapons tech got her all kinds of wet. I just showed the specs to her, I didn't know she was gonna steal it!"

"Shikon?" Spike asked in a quick aside to Jet. His partner glowered at him, his face dark with anger. "I've never heard of it."

"I don't care if it's the goddamn holy grail," Jet snarled. He moved forward, shoved Kagome hard against the console so that she had to let go of the guy's ear. Spike hadn't moved from behind Inuyasha either, keeping a hard grip on the enraged Hanyou as he snarled and tried to get at the woman to tear her apart.

"Enough of this shit," Jet bellowed, bringing everything in the room to a standstill. "I don't know what this thing is and I don't care. We are about to die, people. We got less than an hour on emergency power. After that, it's gonna get really fucking cold in here, but we'll suffocate before we freeze to death."

He pointed a finger at Inuyasha. "You, punk," he said, making sure the Hanyou knew he was done with fucking around. "Whatever you got, you're gonna give it to these guys before they decide to hit us again. One more shot and we're a grease spot."

"I can't do that," Inuyasha muttered, making no attempt to get away from Jet's anger or Spike's grip on his shoulders.

"For once, I agree," Higurashi said. Fury still sparkled in her eyes and her mouth was a thin line of annoyance. "Better to destroy the ship and everyone inside it than to risk having this fool fall into Naraku's hands."

Jet sighed in disgust. "I'm not ready to die yet, lady," he said, catching a defiant grin from Spike. His gaze fell on Faye's angry face and she nodded sharply.

"Me either," she said, moving to stand behind Spike and glare at the major. "I'm not ready to die, and I for sure am not going to die over him!"

Spike nodded slowly. "Give him to them," he said calmly. He let go of the Hanyou and leaned against the wall and looked bored. "It's not worth dying for, if they'll let us go, maybe we can patch the breach long enough to get to the nearest port."

Kagome's hand had strayed to her stun wand again and this time it was Jet who put a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Don't, major," he advised, realizing that even if they did survive she was most likely to put them all in a deep, dark cell for this. "Admit it when you're beat."

Her eyes widened and Jet was startled to see honest fear in them. "I don't think you understand," she whispered. "If that's Naraku out there, you're as good as dead even if you hand the Hanyou over to him. He's a monster, far worse than any Syndicate gangster or petty thug."

Spike found himself grinning, he liked it when the odds were against him. More than that, he liked to prove to the powerful and the sadistic that they didn't own the universe. They didn't own him.

"Maybe we should find out who we're dealing with before we all commit ritual suicide together," he said and made a lazy gesture at the console. "Comm's up, suppose we give them a call and see if they're willing to negotiate. Remember, we've got something they want bad enough to kill for. Let's find out how much this Hanyou is worth."

Inuyasha grunted, looking over his shoulder at the lanky bounty hunter. The guy smirked at him and he sighed, sinking back in the chair. It was time for him to take a little bit of the initiative. Like it or not, his father wouldn't be happy to hear that he let a bunch of humans die at Naraku's hands. Not if he could find a way to prevent it as long as that way didn't include handing over the Shikon no Tama.

"All right," Inuyasha muttered, feeling fatalistic as he was giving in. Again he was cornered like a rat in a trap and again he was going to have to talk his way out of it. Sometimes when brute force wasn't the answer, all you could do was try to dazzle them with bullshit. He sighed heavily and reached out a claw for the comm, meeting the major's eyes with an expression every bit as grim and serious and the situation itself.

"Let's find out who the fuck we're dealing with."

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	8. Eight

**Space Hanyou Chapter 8**

"Um, hello?"

His voice sounded soft and scared even to his own ears. Inuyasha scowled, reaching out to tap the comm mic with one sharp claw. Even if he was being forced into this, there was no reason to sound like he was competing for pussy of the year.

"Hey, can you hear me out there? This is…uh…Bebop."

A hand slapped against the back of his skull none too gently, reminding him that now wasn't the time to pull any funny stuff. "Tell them who you are," Jet hissed menacingly, the barrel of his pistol level with Inuyasha's nose.

"Get that pop-gun out of my face, asshole," he growled, wishing he had the time to holster Jet's sidearm in a place he'd bet the bounty hunter wouldn't appreciate. Stupid goddamn cowboys, why didn't they listen to him? If that was Naraku out there, this wasn't going to work. Naraku didn't play games, no, he ate people alive for the sheer pleasure of hearing them scream. If there was an easy or simple way to do something that didn't involve pain, Naraku would always choose a sly manipulation that was calculated to make the target suffer.

It was the number one reason he'd gone to such lengths of stealing back the Shikon in the first place. The second, of course, had been that he didn't dare let his father or brother know that he'd let _her_ steal it from _him_. Damn if she hadn't been a beauty though, it was almost worth getting blasted by the old man just to have the memory of that sleek body under his hands.

He turned back to the mic, taking a deep breath and wondering what the hell he was supposed to say. Please don't kill us? Terms for surrender? Don't shoot these stupid fools because I already know you'll kill everyone even if they hand me over?

Inuyasha cleared his throat and thumbed the mic. "Uh…attacking ship, this is the Hanyou. I'm aboard so, uh, if you're trying to kill me just keep going and that's what you're gonna get…"

"Just great," Faye hissed in disgust. She stalked over the console and yanked the mic away from Inuyasha. "Listen up, you bastards," she snarled. "If you're after this white-haired punk, that's fine. Quit shooting up our ship and we'll give you the dumb son of a bitch on a platter. Twenty million ain't worth dying for!"

"Tactful," Kagome murmured, a faint smile in her eyes when she turned to wink at Spike. "I can see that she probably handles all of your negotiations."

"Only the ones involving money," Spike grinned back. He rather liked the saucy wink she'd thrown at him. Made her seem much less like a cop and more like a woman.

"White-haired punk?" Inuyasha asked in a wounded voice. He put on his most puppyish expression and gave her a pitiful look. "Faye, I thought you liked me!"

"I like breathing better," she snapped, dropping the mic in his lap. She leaned over him, not caring if he leered at her tits again, and smiled unpleasantly. "I like spending money, I like winning it even more. I like the idea of living to a ripe old age and dying filthy rich. As you're the reason I won't get to enjoy any of these things, I definitely do _not _like you."

"That's not what you said in the corridor," Inuyasha retorted. His pride had definitely been offended, how could the woman think this was his fault? He didn't ask them to drag his naked butt out of that whorehouse. In fact, he really missed that whorehouse right now, at least there the girls were more honest about being mercenary wenches. "You were all over me and begging for it!"

"I was not!"

"Oh yes you were," he said, giving Spike and Jet a knowing grin. "She comes off like she's some kinda bad-ass cowboy, but when you rub her the right way…" He let his voice trail off suggestively before giving Faye a wicked smirk. "She heats up like a welding laser set for max burn."

"You lying bastard," Faye shrieked, forgetting that they were all in the process of trying to save their own lives. "I'm gonna tear your miserable tongue out!"

Spike made a quick dive for her as Faye lunged at Inuyasha, barely catching her around the waist in time to keep her nails from raking the Hanyou's face. She kicked and swore angrily before Spike dropped her hard on the deck. "Cool it, Faye," he snapped, hoping this might be the one time he'd see common sense override that temper. "This isn't the time!"

"Fascinating as this conversation is," a low voice drawled, "it serves no purpose other than to confirm to me that the Hanyou is definitely aboard your ship."

"Shit," Inuyasha muttered. "I left the damn comm open, didn't I?"

Jet ground his teeth together, aching to beat the punk's head against the deck until his blood painted Bebop's hull. Of all the stupid morons in the universe, he just had to pick up the stupidest one of them all. He reached over Inuyasha's shoulder to close the comm. His hand was shaking from the massive self-control it took to not throttle their bountyhead and he slowly tightened his grip on the back of Inuyasha's chair until everyone in the command station heard the sound of plastic buckling.

"Tell me something, Hanyou," Jet muttered darkly as he met Spike's concerned expression. "Does everyone you meet want to kill you this badly?"

**oOo**

The young woman who sat at the control console had the appearance of a young child, and although she had often been mistaken for a child, one look into her lifeless black eyes was enough to destroy the illusion forever. She never smiled, she rarely spoke, and when she did her voice was hardly more than a hollow whisper. And no child would ever run weapons and tactical for a gunship.

"They've shut down the communications," she murmured, her small, pallid fingers dancing over the boards. "Their hull integrity is down to eighty-five percent. Ship's systems have probably sealed off the cracks as best as they can, but I detect serious damage to their environmental and life support. Engines have shut down, they're running on their emergency backups. Best estimate would be forty-five, maybe fifty minutes standard of power remaining."

"And then they will start to die," Kagura purred in satisfaction. "Thank you, Kanna. Have Bankotsu and his men on stand-by for a boarding party. We'll wait until we're sure that no one is left alive except for the Hanyou. Then we'll go in there and take him before we blow that wreck to pieces."

"Do you think he'll resist?" Kanna asked, still entering data into the ship's targeting sensors.

"I certainly hope so," Kagura answered, her smile becoming positively bloodthirsty. She sighed happily, stretching out her lean legs as she anticipated the pleasure of the upcoming kill. "I want an excuse to use as much force with him as possible."

And once he was safely aboard and in her ungentle hands, Kagura had every intention of enjoying the interrogation. Inuyasha was a delicious specimen to play with, she'd actually been fantasizing about it ever since Naraku had sent them on this mission. There had to be some kind of compensation for this dangerous and usually unrewarding work.

As if it had been tracking her thoughts, her private comm line gave a muted beep. Kanna didn't hesitate or give Kagura a moment to collect her thoughts, she simply put through the shielded signal and ignored the grimace of annoyance from her captain.

A tiny screen unfolded at her elbow and Kagura breathed a quick sigh of gratitude. At least it wasn't _him. _"Kohaku," she said pleasantly, recognizing the young man as Naraku's most trusted subordinate. "To what do I owe this pleasure?"

"Naraku wants status," the boy answered, his voice sullen and yet emotionless. The corner of Kagura's mouth twitched involuntarily, realizing that by having Kohaku make contact with her, Naraku was reminding her of what it would cost her if she ever became disloyal.

She raised her finger at Kanna to let the girl know to dump their files onto Naraku's secure channel. That way the manipulating bastard would know everything she'd been doing and everything she knew. No secrets from her employer, Kagura enjoyed her life too much to risk it.

"I'd estimate about another hour or so before we board," she said easily. "Tell Naraku I will not fail him. As soon as I have the Hanyou in my custody, I'll make him spill every secret he's got locked away in that pretty white head of his. Even," she smirked knowingly, "where he's hidden the Shikon no Tama."

There, that for Naraku and his spies. If he thought she was stupid enough to not guess the reason behind her employer's hunt for this particular fugitive, he was indeed growing too complacent. Kagura didn't like being kept in the dark and she didn't like being sent blindly into a fight. Too often she was the one taking the damage that should have been reserved for Naraku himself.

"Naraku wants him alive and undamaged," Kohaku said bluntly, hardly disturbed by her carefully calculated remarks. "The Shikon is not your mission, the Hanyou is." The boy hesitated, his eyes glazing over slightly as the electronics inside his head demanded his attention with their own subversive signals. The boy's mouth twisted as if in pain for a moment and then his expression smoothed.

"Naraku says that you can play with him all you want, after you've successfully completed your mission and brought him in. Naraku wants to interrogate him personally." The boy's voice tightened with revulsion. "You get what's left."

"Bastard," Kagura breathed as the channel suddenly closed. Her hand was trembling slightly as she reached out and shut the miniature screen. If she recalled Naraku's interrogation technique, there wouldn't be enough left of Inuyasha to play with. She shuddered, remembering the icy cold voice of her master when she'd been the one under his questioning. He could break anyone, even a hanyou, and he'd be begging for death long before Naraku was finished.

"What a pity," she murmured, shaking of the ghosts of old pain. "I think you would have preferred my methods, Inuyasha. Naraku has no sense of fun."

**oOo**

"The ship is called _The White Feather_," Inuyasha said quietly. "Her captain is a woman named Kagura and she definitely works for Naraku."

"You sure?" Spike asked as he lit a cigarette. The smoke pooled around his head like a halo and he leaned against the wall as if he didn't have a care in the world. "You only heard her voice for a couple seconds."

The Hanyou snorted bitterly. "I wish I was wrong, but I know it was her. I know she works for Naraku because he'd never let her work for anyone else. Believe me, she hates his guts almost as much as I do, but she won't cross him."

Major Higurashi was pacing uneasily around the room, her hands idly playing with her stun wand as she did so. Inuyasha watched her somewhat cautiously, wondering when she'd give him another zap. Damn sadistic fed, he thought, watching as she turned and walked away from him. Too bad she had such a nice ass.

"You sound like you know this Kagura rather well," Higurashi said in a cool tone. "Why is that? Don't tell me she's one of your former conquests?"

Inuyasha laughed harshly, leaning back on the couch and linking his fingers together behind his head. "No way, babe. Not that fucking bitch, she's got tastes too kinky for even me. Some people like to play games with pain, believe me, she's the real thing." He smiled to himself and closed his golden eyes. "Great body though, like you, her personality gets in the way."

"Pig," Faye muttered under her breath. She wasn't going to forgive him for what he'd said earlier, oh hell no. He'd been the one pursuing her, not the other way around.

Ever since he'd woken up in Bebop's holding cell, he'd been sniffing after her like he was a dog in heat. Persistent and lewd, he really wasn't her type at all. She liked rich men, dumb and good-looking guys who'd let her spend their money. Not lying outlaws who were being hunted by a psycho and had so many crimes on his record that it would make a sex offender blush.

But damn it, he knew how to kiss a woman so that it made her knees go weak. It wasn't worth giving up twenty million or her life, but Faye wasn't going to let herself think about what it might be worth.

Jet rubbed his head with an air of desperate distraction. Crippled, life support failing, a hulking gunship with a pain-crazy bitch captain…they'd been in some tight spots before but damned if he was just going to curl into a ball and die. The marshal's pacing was starting to wear on his nerves too. His eyes were drawn to her as she restlessly circled the deck, her soft features drawn into hard lines of concentration. If they could just fire up the engines long enough to make a break for it, he was sure he could make the auxiliary batteries do things far beyond their specs.

If the hull didn't crack.

If the environmental units would keep functioning.

If that damn flying cannon outside didn't blast them to little pieces when he tried to fire the Bebop to life. There had to be some way to fool the fucking…

It hit him like an impact bullet, entering with all the force of a cosmic storm and shattering inside his mind like the flash of a dying star. It was insane, but he was used to crazies by now and if it wouldn't have wasted their time, he'd have kicked himself for not thinking of it earlier. Then he couldn't blame himself at all. He was a practical man, someone on Bebop had to be, and he was used to thinking about what he had available.

It wasn't every day he had a federal marshal's fucking passcodes at his disposal.

"Major," he rumbled, catching all their attention with his defiant grin. "We need to have a little talk."

**oOo**

"Okay, Ed," Spike said with a grin. "You understand what you're supposed to do, right?"

She just giggled at him, finally falling over on her side with her legs kicking in the air. "Ed knows," she said, her eyes twinkling with mischief. "Ed can do it, no problem!"

"Eh, buddy," Inuyasha said doubtfully. "You really sure she understands?" The kid was cute as hell, but he had a hard time picturing the hyperactive, and slightly creepy, girl as being the master hacker her shipmates said she was. In fact, he had a hard time picturing her sitting in one spot long enough to take a pee.

"Don't worry," Spike said, enjoying the Hanyou's uncomfortable doubts. "If she can't, we all die anyway. What have we got to lose?"

The plan was amazingly simple when you looked at it on the surface. Spike was actually rather impressed that Jet even thought it up. There was no way that this Kagura woman could know that Major Higurashi was aboard. Her and her blasted passcodes.

"First thing," Jet said, "we know they aren't going to fire unless we give them a reason. They aren't looking outside, they rely on their systems just the same as we do. Right now all they're doing is broadcasting a wide-band jammer to make sure we can't call anyone for help. That's what we got to work with."

"So we're being jammed," Faye said sullenly. "We know that, Jet. We have to get off this damn ship before…"

"Shut it, Faye," Jet warned, shaking a finger at her. She scowled at him, more prickly than usual and definitely not looking at the Hanyou. He sighed to himself, promising once again that if he'd just be allowed to live a bit longer, he'd have that talk with her about her selfish ways. Damn her anyway, she knew better than to get personally involved in a bounty.

"Inuyasha," he said politely, it hurt, but it was politely. "Tell us what you know about that ship's jamming capabilities."

The Hanyou scratched absently at his ear. "It's a simple mirror-system," he said at last. "If Kanna is still running tactical analysis for her, that's the only system she trusts."

"What's a mirror system?" Higurashi asked quietly. "I've never heard of it."

"Thought you feds were up on your hardware," Inuyasha sneered. "She uses our own output signal against us. We transmit, she reflects it back and shoves it right down our throats. Don't you know anything about electronics that don't involve causing pain?"

Kagome flushed. "I know enough," she spat. "I know that a jammer doesn't do a damn thing to disable that thing's guns."

"No," Jet said easily, stepping between the criminal and the law. "But it does give us something to work with. She's also using that mirror to monitor our systems. Works better than standard scan, as long as she's using it, they won't be looking for anything else."

"Passcodes," Spike said suddenly, a smile lighting his eyes. "Federal law enforcement passcodes to override Bebop's systems."

"All right, Spike," Jet said gruffly. "You're paying attention. With the major's codes, Ed can go into Bebop's systems and set up a dummy signal. That will be what we're putting out, that bitch will think we're just broadcasting a mayday beacon."

"So?" Higurashi didn't look amused that her codes were being used to alter the ship's system and fake a distress call. But she'd already conceded that if they wanted to live for a few more hours, she'd have to allow them to be used. And if getting out of this alive meant that she kept Inuyasha and his secrets out of Naraku's grip, it was definitely defined as a lawful usage.

"While she's reading that false signal," Jet continued with a wicked gleam in his eyes, "I'll be hard at work getting the engines to fire manually. They weren't damaged by the attack, but they went into cold shut down when the hull cracked."

"How long does the start up sequence take?" Kagome asked seriously.

Jet grimaced. "Four hours by designer checklist specs."

"We don't have four hours," Inuyasha exploded. "You think Kagura doesn't know how much time this piece of shit has left?"

Moving surprisingly quickly for a man his size, Jet darted across the room and seized Inuyasha by his red vest and dragged him to his feet. "The next time you call my Bebop a piece of shit, I'm going to make you clean the san unit with your tongue," he growled.

"And it's your ass we're saving from a long, slow death by torture," Spike reminded him in a hard voice. "Be grateful we don't shove your ungrateful face out the airlock and make a run for it. I bet they'd have no problem deciding between you and us."

"Was that really an option?" Faye asked. Inuyasha turned a glare on her as he broke Jet's grip. Stubborn bastard didn't have to take offense like that, he was just stating a fact. His golden eyes followed Faye from across the room. Just like every other woman, this one didn't mind selling him out to save her skin.

But it still hurt somewhere deep inside his heart. He hated that feeling of betrayal and worthlessness. His older brother had always told him that he was unworthy to be their father's son, that he was just a failed experiment. For years he'd been convinced that his mother had abandoned him, abandoned the genetic research she'd been hired to do, and left her half-breed child alone in a world that didn't want him. He'd thought she'd hated him, tossed him away like he meant nothing more to her than a lab animal. That was what his brother thought of him anyway.

By the time he'd learned the truth, it had been too late for him to change what he'd become and too late to save her life.

"Okay," Jet said, surveying his small and motley group. "Major, I'll need you to take ops. If Ed runs into a problem with your codes, you're the only one that might have a shot at helping her. Faye, I want you to monitor that other ship." He spread his hands helplessly. "You don't have much to work with because of the jamming, but the cameras are working and some of the secondary sensors. If she fires up her guns, you need to let me know immediately."

"I can handle it," she said quietly. She knew her face was still red and hoped they all thought it was just bad temper. Not that she didn't have reason to be pissed, but she honestly hadn't meant to suggest that they throw Inuyasha out the airlock. Spike had actually said it, but handing him over to these people was nothing less than cold-blooded murder.

"I'll be in the engine core," Jet continued. "That's why we can do this. Manual start up sequence takes exactly one hour. We have forty minutes of emergency power. Then the blowers shut off, the scrubbers quit and we all start to suffocate. I can give them a little boost as I start to bring the engines online, but not by much."

"What do you want me to do?" Spike asked, taking one last drag on his smoke. Talking about suffocation had ruined his enjoyment of it anyway.

Jet grinned. "You two," he said, indicating Inuyasha along with Spike. "You get to take a little walk outside. You need to weld a patch on that breach or we could all just shake apart when I have to make a hard burn. We'll need to do that to get away from our friends outside."

"It had better be a hard acceleration," Kagome murmured. "Otherwise we'll be an easy target. If we catch them off guard and run as fast as this ship can, we might have a chance."

"There's just one problem," Jet said. This was the hard part. "You'll need to seal the welds from the inside of the breach or our life support won't come back online when we need it. You can't get to it from inside, the ship's emergency bulkheads can't be reset until we get to a repair port. One of you guys needs to slip through that narrow breach, the other will weld the exterior plates."

"Doesn't sound too bad," Spike said, raising his eyebrow at the scowling Hanyou. "Why the long face, Jet?"

He hated to tell him, he really did. Serious now, Jet leaned his arm on the back of the sofa and looked down at Inuyasha, then back at Spike. "Whoever goes inside has to stay inside and find some way to strap themselves down before we run. It's hard vacuum in there now, no pressurized atmosphere, no nothing.

Faye had decided that she didn't believe in much, but she believed Jet when he was this serious. "What's going to happen?" she whispered.

"A pressure suit won't hold up under those conditions," Spike answered. It was a really simple matter. "And that breach is too narrow to wear something that might protect the body. Ever throw a ripe tomato against a wall as hard as you can?"

Faye's eyes widened and even Ed was silent. No gravity to slow the ride, no acceleration couches to cushion a body's joints and bones against the force that was going to be crushing it into the bulkhead. The only chance was that he'd be able to bolt himself down to the environmental piping, hoping that the stress didn't tear him or the irreplaceable life support components apart.

"Well," Spike said, grinning for no reason at all. "I can't say how I'm going to feel afterwards, but it won't be the first time I've had the hell kicked out of me. It will be the first time that a ship does the kicking."

There was no way around it, he had to be the one. He'd had a feeling from the beginning where this was heading and Spike was the kind of guy who liked to take risks, especially if it meant fucking over someone else's sadistic plans.

Too bad he wasn't going to get to do it. Inuyasha stood up and stretched lazily, wishing to hell that he'd stayed at the bar and got drunk with Miroku instead of chasing after a woman with dark and lying eyes.

He fixed Spike with a belligerent scowl and bared his teeth in a grin that had nothing to do with humor and everything to do with survival.

"Hey, asshole," he said, gloating a little that someone was going to owe him for this one. "Who says you get to have all the fun?"

**Mailing list: http/ groups . yahoo . com / group / WheezambuFics / **


	9. Nine

**A/N: Been a long time since I updated this one…hope someone is still reading it!**

Space Hanyou 09

"You sure you wanna do this?" Spike asked doubtfully as he suited up. Somehow he just couldn't rest easy knowing that his life and the lives of everyone aboard were resting on this devious punk's ability.

"Fuck no, I don't wanna do this," Inuyasha snapped, pulling on a pair of heavy leather welding gloves. He yanked hard and his claws came out the fingertips like razors. "I'm not suicidal either!"

"Could have fooled me," the bounty hunter muttered, zipping the seals that kept his EVA suit airtight. Inuyasha wasn't going to wear one, didn't need it, so he said. Spike wasn't sure he could trust a guy that claimed to be able to swim naked in hard vacuum. But he liked even less that Higurashi implied the Hanyou would survive even after life support cut out and Bebop's hull was opened to space.

If this little trick failed, they would all perish quite soon. Inuyasha didn't seem to be concerned so much with their survival as his own. Even if he lived after having the ship blown out from under him, he'd have nowhere to run. That flying cannon of a gunship outside was hot after his ass and he had nothing to gain but a long, painful death by torture if they failed.

Spike didn't trust much in this world, but he trusted a man…or hanyou…to look after his own survival first. Which meant this insane scheme of Jet's might just work.

"Here," Faye said, tossing Inuyasha a breather mask. It was good for doing repairs in tight spaces where the ship's environmental might not be stable. Cold places, dark places too where the friendly touch of oxygen life support didn't reach. Inuyasha fit the mask over his mouth and nose, scowling a bit when the pickup didn't reach his ears.

Faye grinned and pulled out a small clip to secure the headset to one of the Hanyou's pointed ears. "It's gonna pinch a bit," she said as he glared at her. "But you need to be able to talk to Spike and Jet. If you can't seal your side of the breach, then we're all dead if we try to run."

Inuyasha said something, his breath misting the clear plastic of the mask. Scowling, Faye fiddled with the comm, holding the loose end of the headset up to her ear. "Spike, you hear me?"

"Yeah," he answered. Curious, he turned to look at Inuyasha when she repeated the question. Nothing.

The Hanyou nodded and tapped his ear, then the faceplate of his mask. Faye sighed and reached for it. "You can hear us, but we can't hear you," she said as she slipped it off. "Must be a faulty wire or…"

Without a word, Inuyasha grabbed hold of Faye's shoulders and covered her mouth with a fast kiss. Spike stood silently as she struggled, making high-pitched whines of protest as their prisoner continued his oral assault. He couldn't tell if the damn fool was trying to suffocate her or just kiss Faye until she collapsed in a heap. Either way, they were wasting valuable time.

Inuyasha's hands slid down her arms, locking around her wrists as she tried to hit him. He pinned her easily to the bulkhead, his lips nipping and sucking at her own. Faye felt dizzy, finding it harder and harder to fight him. Why is he doing this, she wondered, feeling her knees getting weak. Now isn't the time to make a pass, is he insane?

Is this a kiss goodbye?

Against her will, her arms lifted to curve around him. And wasn't it deserved, he was going to take the huge risk of staying in the environmental pod, enduring all the gravity Bebop's mass would produce at a hard burn. Strong as he swore he was, he might not survive…

"Nice," Inuyasha murmured, breaking their kiss with a moist lick to her upper lip. Faye's vision swam a bit as he touched her cheek, sliding his hand into her hair. "I knew you liked me just a little."

She was about to answer that when he suddenly slid her headband off and turned away. "Thanks, sweetheart," he said, grinning wickedly as he used it to tie his silvery hair in a ponytail. "Null-g is a bloody nightmare when you've got long hair."

Her face flushed instantly, realizing there was nothing wrong with his comm, nothing more to his kiss than just a distraction. Once again he'd played her, toying with her for his own amusement. This time he wouldn't go unpunished either!

Faye covered her face with her hands so he couldn't see her face. Her shoulders shook with fury, but it wasn't hard fake weakness as she slid down the bulkhead. "You're such a bastard," she said, her voice breaking.

Inuyasha stepped back, confused. "Hey, honey," he said, concerned. "Don't get so worked up. I didn't mean anything by it."

"That's the problem," she said, still hiding behind her hands. "Everything is just a joke for you, isn't it?"

"Uh, Inuyasha," Spike said uncomfortably as the Hanyou knelt beside the crying woman. "I wouldn't…"

It was too late. As soon as Inuyasha touched her shoulder, his expression contrite, Faye looked up and punched him as hard as she could. Surprised, Inuyasha fell on his ass, staring up at her as she got to her feet with a grim smile. Faye's eyes glittered dangerously as she loomed over him, her fists clenched.

"Keep your goddamn hands off of me," she bit out furiously. "I hope you enjoyed that little kiss because it's probably the last one you'll ever have. When we get away from those bastards outside, I hope there's not enough left of you to scrape off the walls with a sponge!"

She stormed out of the room, her angry footfalls echoing off the metal walls. Inuyasha rubbed his jaw and blotted away a trickle of blood from his lip. He sighed dejectedly like he hadn't deserved such abuse and pulled himself to his feet. Spike only shrugged and picked up his helmet, locking it into place as Inuyasha picked up his discarded mask.

"Is she always like that?" he asked, fiddling with the clip on his ear.

The lanky bounty hunter grinned at the hanyou's depressed tone. "Most of the time. I'd say you got off easy. Faye's more likely to shoot someone when she's that pissed off."

Inuyasha grinned. "But she sure is damn pretty when she's mad." His golden eyes narrowed slightly, considering. "All sugar and vinegar, I like that."

From what Spike could tell, there wasn't much about women that Inuyasha didn't like. And considering that it was Faye, he had to give the guy points for persistency. Or stupidity…you didn't get points for being too damn dumb to know when you didn't have a shot. Kinda like this half-crazy plan of Jet's, which wasn't going to work, but they still had to try.

A smart man knew when the odds were against him. A man who wanted to stay alive didn't always have to option to be smart.

He sighed and thumbed his comm. "Jet, we're ready to step outside."

oOo

"Jet, we're ready to step outside."

"Got it, Spike." A pause. "Good luck."

Crackling static answered him and Jet heard the manual release on the airlock start to cycle. Down in the belly of the ship, he was starting to sweat as he tried to ease BeBop's engines back to life.

Pressure gauges, the acrid tang of oil and cold machinery, it was the last place he wanted to be when there was a gunship outside. He could see his breath mist in the air and disappear, a place too cold and dry to have condensation survive for more than a micro. BeBop wasn't going anywhere without his help, it was his job to breathe more than mist. He had to breathe life back into this ship.

"Systems up and running," he muttered into the comm, letting Higurashi and Faye know he was making progress. Now that he had her engine computers back up, they could start to talk to each other and begin the slow drag back to life. One thing was for sure; he was seriously going to ask for more money on this bounty.

That damned flying cannon out there had knocked a hole in BeBop's skin, knocked a hole in his pride too. He wanted to have a few minutes with this Kagura woman, preferably a few minutes with an impact pistol or the Major's stun wand. He had seen less scrupulous cowboys try to poach a bounty before and he'd been on the receiving end of that tactic more than once.

That was why you always watched your back and you always had an alternate plan. Whether in a dark alley or in the dark of space, you didn't let someone get the drop on you. Hell. No.

But to blast open the side of a ship, kill the crew and maybe the bounty head just to make a snatch like that? Jet smiled grimly to himself as he primed engine one by hand, letting the fuel seep into the cold recesses of the machinery. No, they weren't dealing with rival cowboys and he was damned sure even Inuyasha would prefer federal lockup to what was waiting for them out there.

When they got out of this, hell, if they got out of it, he was going to have a talk with some of his enforcement buddies about this Kagura and this Naraku asshole. They sounded as bloodthirsty as any Syndicate he'd ever heard of and if there was bounty available for either of their miserable hides, he was going to take it.

"Take it as payment down," he grunted, the lights of Bebop's systems winking in the darkness like a promise. "Way I figure, I got me some restitution coming for this damage. They're gonna regret they day they ever came after Bebop!"

oOo

Kagome leaned over the console, trying to watch everything at once. Her pass codes had been entered, the strange kid kept giggling to herself as her fingers danced. Across the room, Faye was watching the sensors, muttering to herself as she keyed from one outside camera to the other. The White Feather hadn't fired again or given any evidence of attack. In her left ear, she heard the urgent trill of a mayday signal, broadcasting Bebop's call signs and location with an almost desperate cry.

She touched a switch, watching the numbers roll by as Bebop reported that her beacon was active on all frequencies. If any enforcement or legitimate shipping craft picked up that signal, they were required to boost it and log the distress situation immediately. There was still a chance that a deep space cruiser might be listening, even a chance that it would come running to their rescue.

"Ed," she said softly, "are we still being jammed?"

"Oh, yes," the girl said cheerfully, spinning circles in her chair. "Jammed up, jammed down!" She giggled again and the small dog gave a placid yip. Higurashi sighed, realizing the kid had no clue how close to death they really were. She'd embedded a program into the mayday signal, supposedly feeding data back into the stream without that gunship's knowledge. Kagome just hoped it was working, with the firepower that monster seemed to have; they couldn't take another direct hit.

"Can you tell if they're getting our signal?" she asked, too worried to help herself.

The girl turned a toothy grin on her. "Ed knows what she's doing," she chirped. "They see Bebop's beacon, nothing else!"

"You might as well believe her," Faye said in a glum voice. "Kid never makes sense half the time, but when it comes to computers…" She shrugged and fished around for a cigarette, lighting it and exhaling blue smoke into command center.

Kagome raised an eyebrow in a graceful arch. "And you trust her with your life? What about your crewmates?"

Faye shrugged. "I don't trust anyone but myself, marshal. But if there's a way to get us out of here, Jet will do it. And Spike's too tough to go down without a fight. If there's a chance in hell of this working, they can pull it off."

"The question being if there's a chance at all," Kagome returned. The aux batteries were being depleted at an alarming rate. It wouldn't be long until all hope of escape vanished in the deep dark of space. It was time to make decisions, however unpleasant. "You do realize that if worse gets to worst, I can't let the Hanyou fall into their hands."

Faye's eyes narrowed. She didn't want to talk about Inuyasha, not after what he'd just pulled. But curiosity got the better of her and she stubbed out her cigarette on the console. Jet hated that, hated cleaning ash out of the boards, but right now she didn't give a damn. "What are you going to do about it? If he can survive having this hull opened while we all suffocate, you're not going to be able to keep them from doing whatever they want."

Higurashi slipped a small control from her belt and contemplated it grimly. "The collar will take care of it," she said quietly. "I'll detonate it myself, if necessary."

Breath hissing between her teeth, Faye sat up a little straighter. "That's murder," she said, revulsion in her voice. "You can't just blow the guy's head apart!"

The marshal shook her head, a sober expression on her face. "If I have to. The explosives are strong enough to take out the ship as well. There's a chance they won't wait for us to die, Faye. I have no intention of being taken alive by anyone working for Naraku."

"Whoa, wait a minute!" Faye's eyes snapped furiously as she confronted Higurashi. "I'm not ready to die, screw that! At least give us the chance to get off the damn ship! We can make a run for it and…"

"And run where?" Kagome's voice was a hard sneer. "You're a fool if you think they'd let any of us get away. They're after the Hanyou, but Naraku doesn't leave witnesses. And if he thinks that any of us might be used as leverage to get the Hanyou to give up his secrets, have no illusions for your own survival."

Faye groaned and covered her face, wiping her hair back from her cheeks. Touching the loose strands, her lips thinned in annoyance. What a prick, to have dragged them all into such a mess. Next time she saw Inuyasha, she was going to kick him into the next sector. If they lived that long.

"What did he do anyway?" she heard herself mutter. "I saw his sheet, it didn't say anything him being this dangerous. Just piracy and smuggling, violent crimes, and sex offenses, nothing else. How does he rate this kind of attention, even from feds?"

Kagome pursed her lips, looking somewhat anxious as she watched their power levels descend. "It's not his record that made him a target, even if it is extensive. It because of who he is…and what he is, and what he knows that makes him valuable. Naraku will stop at nothing to gain this information. As soon as we found out what Inuyasha had done, we knew we'd have to keep him out of Naraku's hands."

"So what did he do?" In spite of herself, Faye was fascinated. Feds after him, but not for his crimes? That was a new one, but she'd thought it was suspicious when Higurashi had insisted on boarding. Jet thought she was just another high-handed fed, intent on bringing in a notorious criminal for her own advancement. It seemed like there was more to the story. Not that Inuyasha's story wasn't already pretty unbelievable, who the hell bought that crap about a space youkai pirate when…

"Hey," she said, rounding the console to stand in front of the marshal. "That crap about his father, it's true?"

The major didn't blink. "Yes. The pirate Inutaisho is very real, and Inuyasha would be very valuable if we were able to get information about his father. But…" Kagome's voice faded and she bit her lips, obviously struggling with some inner decision.

"But that's not the reason you're really here," Faye said, knowing that they'd been conned from the beginning. "Come on, let me in on it. I knew that little snot was hiding something with all his smutty comments."

"Faye likes Inuyasha," Ed chimed in, having been unusually quiet until now. Faye leveled a death glare at the young girl who was grinning so hard her face looked like it would crack.

"I do not!"

"Does so!" Ed spun her chair, Ein yipping excitedly when Faye grabbed at the girl. "Faye kissed Inuyasha and she liked it!"

"You little brat!"

"Enough!" Kagome didn't have to shout, but her voice cut the air like a lash. "I'll tell you what's so important, but you have to back me if it comes down to dying before we let Naraku's men get their hands on him."

"I can't promise anything like that," Faye said coldly. She shrugged her shoulders and checked the monitors. "There's nothing I consider worth dying for."

She jumped when she felt Higurashi's hand on her shoulder. Surprised, she met the other woman's dark eyes and shivered at her words. "Inuyasha claims to be half youkai alien, but that's not exactly true. His mother was a famous scientist, known for her work in bio-engineering. She went missing years before his birth and was assumed to have been killed when her laboratory was attacked by anti-genetic research terrorists."

"So what?" Faye blurted out. "He said she was dead."

"She is," Kagome said, her voice hard. "But she wasn't killed in that attack, instead she was rescued by Inutaisho. In exchange for his protection, we believe she agreed to work for him. One of her experiments just happens to be her son."

"What?" Faye was confused; she'd assumed that this mysterious alien might have fallen in love with a human, if Inuyasha's story was true. A bit of romantic space flot, but hardly worth dying for.

"And another aspect of her specialized research was in biological weapons technology," Kagome said quietly, watching other woman's eyes widen. "As I'm sure you're aware, bio-weapons are outlawed in all sectors of civilized space."

Kagome dropped her hand and turned away. "A few months back, there was intelligence that Inutaisho had perfected her research. We weren't sure of the nature of this weapon, or how it works, but the information came to us when we found that a human programmer at his research base had possibly been suborned by Naraku and stolen the research."

Faye's face was pale. She'd heard horror stories about what bio-weapons could do. Rewrite the victims' DNA; turn them into mindless zombies, suicide warriors. Or just turn their bodies into living bombs, with the victim being unaware of their deadly fate. They could mutate populations at will; bring entire systems under the domination of whoever controlled the virus.

"That's sick," she murmured. "But you said it was stolen, how do you know that Naraku doesn't have it?"

"Because Inuyasha caught up with the programmer before Naraku could," Kagome said, her voice low as she ran a fingertip over the dirty edge of the console. "I believe he might have persuaded her to hand over the program and destroy the research she'd stolen. All we know for sure is that Naraku didn't get what he wanted and I intend to keep it that way."

"So he has it on him?" Faye didn't believe it for a minute. She leaned on the console and looked Higurashi directly in the eye. "I hate to break it to you, you're wasting your time. Spike and Jet caught him bare-ass naked and passed out in a whorehouse. He's got nothing but the clothes on his back."

"Are you so sure?"

"Hell, we aren't amateurs," Faye said, getting angry at the implied insult they couldn't even search a prisoner. "They scoped him end to end before they brought him in, believe me, he's not hiding anything. Even if he'd swallowed a data cube, they'd have seen it in his body!"

Higurashi gave her a pitying look that only made Faye angrier. "The Shikon no Tama is something which cannot be contained like simple data. It's far more extensive and expressed in biological equations. From what I know, Kikyou destroyed all the research when she smuggled the program from Inutaisho's laboratory. She might have been trying to protect it, or just wanted to have the exclusive possession of the information."

"So you don't know that she was working for this Naraku?"

"We assumed so," Kagome answered quietly. "But if that were the case I think that we wouldn't be having this conversation. For whatever reason, she destroyed the research and escaped with the results. Perhaps she feared Inutaisho's motives, they aren't clear. All I am certain of is that Inuyasha still possesses the information and now Naraku will stop at nothing to have it."

At Faye's blank stare, Kagome sighed and ran her hand through her hair. "I'm not here to kill him, Faye," she said softly. "I want to help him. If his father has really perfected something so deadly, I want it in the hands of the proper authorities. They can study it, find a way to reverse engineer it so it's no longer a threat."

She was surprised when Faye laughed, her voice harsh against the metal walls. Ed looked up, having ignored most of the conversation until now and Ein whined at her feet. Kagome stiffened as the other woman wiped her eyes and glared at her.

"What's so damn funny?" she demanded.

Faye didn't consider herself to be a fool. For the most part, she didn't give a damn about politics, concerning herself with survival first. But she wasn't ignorant either and she'd never been one to believe blindly in the powers that be. "You must be some kind of idiot," she snickered, waving a palm at Kagome. "A real by the book believer if you think that the government would just sit on a weapon like that."

Kagome didn't answer, but met her eyes steadily. "I'd trust them before I'd trust Naraku. Lesser of two evils, wouldn't you say? Or three evils if you include Inutaisho and his forces. Faced with a weapon that could potentially wipe out humanity, who would you trust?"

"I wouldn't trust anyone," Faye muttered, turning away to look at the display screens. Nothing indicated that the White Feather was doing anything other than waiting for them to die. She hoped it was so; it looked like their chances were getting slimmer by the minute. Now that she knew what Inuyasha was involved in, it scared her right down to her bones.

They were all probably going to die, her best bet would be to sneak down to the hangar deck and try to get out on her own. Maybe once the shooting started, if Jet didn't get the engines fired up, while that gunship was intent on tearing them apart. Hopefully before Higurashi blew Inuyasha's brains to space dust, she might have a chance to slip away…

"You didn't say where he has it," Faye said suddenly. If she knew, she might be able to buy a little safety later on. Surely any information might be worthwhile if she had to spill her guts under federal interrogation. She wasn't going to consider anything else…nowhere to run this time.

Kagome sighed, sitting down in Jet's chair to cross her legs and fold her hands across her thighs. "I told you, it couldn't be contained by the usual storage methods. Inuyasha is a hanyou; his parents engineered their own genes to create him. What they felt for each other, if anything, is irrelevant. His body is different, it's possible he was able to absorb the programming…biologically."

Faye's head was starting to hurt; she felt the onset of a real migraine coming. Her mind didn't want to wrap around all this information. And she didn't want to know about it. Strangely enough, she felt a passing sympathy for Inuyasha. Created like that, growing up as an experiment, and now pressed with the containment of a deadly weapon…wouldn't it shake anyone to the core? Make them act out of desperation, clutching at any way to lie, seduce or fight their way out of this trap?

That was something she could understand. She'd do the same thing in his place.

"So it's…inside him somewhere?" What kind of a father would do something like that, turn his son into a living experiment and send him to recover a stolen program that made him a target for both a psychotic murderer and the government? Either of which would be happy to dissect the silver haired criminal, or carve him up alive if that's what it took to recover this weapon. They'd slice apart his brain, most likely…

She looked over at Higurashi, sickened by the marshal's ready acceptance of whatever fate the government intended. "How are you any better than Naraku?" she said, her voice hoarse with disgust. "They won't just lock him up, you know."

Kagome flushed and looked at the floor, obviously stung by Faye's accusation. "I have to do it," she said, sounding none too sure about her words. "I…don't want him to be killed either, but the risks of letting him go are just too great."

And the same fate awaited him if they turned him over to enforcement, she realized grimly. No matter what, Inuyasha the Hanyou was screwed.

The comm buzzed, startling both women. Faye ground her teeth for a moment before reaching over Ed's shoulder to flip the toggle. "Faye here," she said, clipping the words like icicles from her heart. "What's up, Jet?"

"Ready here," came the tinny response. "It's go, the engines are as ready as I can make them. Has Spike reported in?"

"I'm here," came a voice from the doorway. Faye spun around to see her crewmate standing in the doorway, an unlit cigarette in his mouth and his EVA helmet still under his arm. She met his eyes and realized he'd been listening to their conversation and when he turned to look at Major Higurashi, his lip curled with contempt.

"We're go, Jet," he said, not taking his eyes from Kagome. "I've got the patch welded, but we're still dead if Inuyasha isn't able to seal his side of the breach."

"Inuyasha?" Faye flipped the switch that connected Bebop's comm to Inuyasha's headset. "Jet's go, Spike's up here, and that ship hasn't made a move. You ready?"

There was a crackle of static and then everyone winced as the pickup screeched. "Yeah, ready as I can be. Got the welds as good as they're gonna get, honey. If this crate doesn't shake apart when we burn, I'll eat Ed's goggles."

No one smiled, Faye and Spike still staring at Higurashi until Jet spoke. "Okay, kid," the gruff voice said. "Strap yourself down, this is probably gonna hurt."

"He's sacrificing himself to give us a chance," Faye suddenly hissed, gripping the console as she glared at Higurashi. "And you'd turn him in, you fucking bitch."

Kagome didn't flinch. "At least I'd do it out of duty, not to make a bounty head." She leveled a cold stare at Spike and Faye. "Don't worry, I'll see that you get paid. I wouldn't dream of standing in the way of your reward."

Faye gasped, her eyes shimmering with outrage until Spike stepped up and gripped her shoulder with a firm hand. "Nothing we can do about," he said, his calm voice dropping into the painful tension like a blow. "Faye, let it go."

"You assholes gonna do this or not?" Inuyasha's voice burst from the comm speaker, but he could hear anything unless Faye pressed the pickup. "I've been waiting all damn day for this ride. Now burn it already or we're all gonna fry!"

"You heard the man, Jet," Spike said, reaching across the console to route all of Bebop's systems to Jet's board in the engine room.

"Let's burn."

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	10. Ten

**A/N: I swear I won't take a fucking year to update for the next chapter! So very sorry I've neglected this one, I promise I won't be so lazy in the future. And I am a woman who loves to be lazy.**

Space Hanyou 10

"You heard the man, Jet. Let's burn."

_BeBop_'s metal hull shuddered, a muted rumble from beneath the deck plates as the two massive engines pulsed to life from a cold start. All the lights on the boards flashed wildly as energy flowed deep within the injured starship. She moaned and complained sounding like an angry mule whipped to movement by a harsh hand. The rumbling became a heavy throb when _BeBop_'s drives engaged and started building the power to slingshot the little tin can to safety.

Then, unexpectedly, there was another sound. One that was more like…a hiccup.

And the engines groaned, protesting as they powered down in emergency shut off. The boards went dark, the interior lighting flickered when the emergency batteries kicked in, and the sound of the life support guttered to a halt. There was dead silence as _BeBop_'s passengers and crew eyed each other warily. The faintly desperate electronic squeal that had become only normal background noise was suddenly noticeable for its absence.

The beacon was off…and so was Ed's jamming signal. A single red button was flashing with embarrassing urgency.

Massive power failure.

All systems aborted.

Spike met Faye's frightened eyes and the cigarette butt dropped from his lips.

"Shit."

oOo

"No no no no," Jet muttered as he frantically tried to restart the engines. Sweat slid down the side of his face to drip on the uncooperative boards that were blank and dead as space. Dead as _BeBop_ was about to be, dead as her crew and their cursed bountyhead. He knew what massive power failure meant, knew that all of _BeBop_'s systems had just twisted like his gut when she'd engaged the emergency batteries.

It meant their time was up. The last bit of juice their batteries held wouldn't start the engines, nor keep the blowers moving precious oxygen or heat through the ship's living quarters. It for damned sure wouldn't keep the keep the fake beacon engaged.

"Sitting here with my balls hanging out," Jet grunted, fighting the urge to smash his fist into the engine control board out of sheer frustration. They'd blown it; he'd blown it, their one shot at a fast burn and possible survival. Now the _BeBop_ was nothing more than a metal tomb, hanging like a broken toy in the deep black…

Silent…trapped…

Dead.

Swearing under his breath, Jet didn't even page the bridge for status. Only one thing left to try…and he didn't know if they had enough time. In the crawlspace under the drives, there was a manual kick switch that was only used when the ship was in dry dock for maintenance. That's where a qualified ship mechanic could hook in a diagnostic to evaluate the power output with the drives safely disengaged.

But it took time to route the power couples, pry the safety casing off the ignitions and give _BeBop_ the codes that would make her think that she was sitting at dock. And as far as he knew…nobody had ever tried a diagnostic start up with the space drives engaged and ready to burn.

"First time for everything, son," he muttered as he pulled up the deck plating and stared into a cold, dark hole. It might not work, hell…it might cause a reverse thrust that would turn _BeBop_'s interior to flaming combustion for all he knew. But then again…they probably wouldn't live through the next blast from that gunship anyway.

Death by slow suffocation or death by rapid decompression. A cold metal tomb or a raging pyre…nothing like limited options to make a man feel confident. Son of a bitch.

"Somebody owes me for this one," Jet said, sliding awkwardly under the floor.

oOo

"Captain?" Tap, tap and the sound of someone clearing their throat. "Captain?"

Kagura growled in annoyance, shifting in her seat when the soft voice interrupted her dozing half-sleep. She'd already been awake thirty plus hours, running her engines at full burn to catch her quarry. Stupid damned cowboys, it had infuriated her that they'd beat her to the base and yanked the Hanyou right out from under her nose. Then she'd raced, anger pulsing in veins and panic making it feel like a dark hand was squeezing her chest.

She'd been too amped up to sleep, too juiced to relax. If she blew this one, missed out on her chance to capture Inuyasha as her master had ordered…well, she didn't want to think about what Naraku might do.

Bastard had his own way of punishing failures and Kagura was keenly aware that if she fucked up on this job, it might be her last.

"What is it, Kanna?" she spat, hating the metallic taste in her mouth as she spoke. "Have they signaled that they're ready to hand him over?"

"No, ma'am," the young woman answered steadily. "Scan was interrupted, but it looks like they found a way to block my sensors. Some kind of reverse jamming; my guess is that they're trying to run."

Kagura went cold inside, then the heat of fury lit her nerves and she was on her feet, stalking over to stare at Kanna's boards. "What do you mean, try to run? Didn't I tell you to target their support systems?"

"Auxiliary power is down by ninety-five percent," Kanna replied, unperturbed by her captain's ire. "Estimate four minutes left of life support, twenty minutes from then until the humans aboard will begin to die."

Biting the inside of her lip until she tasted blood, Kagura resisted the urge to throttle Kanna. "Then what is the problem?"

"They attempted a cold start in their engine core. We were unable to detect the activity via external sensors, but our visuals indicate that the breach in their hull has been emergency patched. Best guess would be that they were going to attempt hard burn and escape before we realized they'd restored their system."

A slow, nasty smile spread across Kagura's face. "Suicidal bastards," she purred, wondering what kind of desperate fools would even try something like that. Not that it mattered; the crew of _BeBop_ was dead meat in a can anyway. Only the Hanyou concerned her, and even he must have realized that these cowboys were out of their tiny little minds.

Or Inuyasha had decided that a catastrophic hull breach and fiery death would be preferable to what Naraku had planned for him. Hmm. Maybe the Hanyou wasn't as stupid as she'd been led to believe. Too bad for him, with that pretty face of his, brains would only be an unnecessary burden.

"Let's give them another punch and move it along," she said, chuckling as she returned to the command chair and crossed her legs. A touch of her finger opened the internal comm. "Bankotsu, have your team ready for launch. I'm afraid I'm out of patience with our cowboy friends."

"Got it," came the immediate response. "Any further instructions?"

She had to smile at the bloody eagerness in that simple question. "Not at all. Mission is to retrieve the Hanyou, intact and alive. Feel free to dispose of any other survivors in the manner you please."

Cutting off Bankotsu's dark laugh with another flick of her finger, Kagura turned her attention to her gunner. "Goshinki, I want you to target their engines. Lay down a barrage to the fore and aft of their engine output. I want their thrust capability crippled for good, understand?"

"Better if we targeted their core," the hulking man said, his twisted face made him look demonic by the glow of his weapons display. "Blow them straight to hell, won't be enough left even for salvage."

Kagura scowled at him. "And risk destroying our prey? Don't be a fool, our objective is to retrieve the Hanyou, not smear his brain across the sec. Let Bankotsu's team take care of the messy details. When that white-haired snot is safely in our holding cell, then you can blast the bounty hunters and their ship to hell."

Showing his crooked teeth with a threatening smile, Goshinki turned back to his board and started entering coordinates that would target their weapons as his captain had ordered. A surgical strike and the _BeBop_ would be forever crippled, a drifting carcass waiting to be plundered.

And plundered she most certainly would be.

oOo

On the bridge of the _BeBop_, the situation was starting to unravel.

"Jet! Jet, get your ass up here now! Goddamn it, Jet! Answer me!"

Spike pushed Faye away from the mic. "Shut it, already," he said, kneeling on the floor to pull the panels off the underside of the command console. "He can't hear you, the comm is dead."

Furious, she kicked the panel next to his head. "We're dead too, didn't you hear Ed? The signal is down, that ship knows we tried to run! We need to get the hell out of here, Spike!"

He ignored her, pulling wires and re-routing what remaining power was left to the displays. The beacon was down; there was no way to restore it. Now they were really screwed if that gunship realized what they'd been trying. But with internal power rapidly diminishing, they couldn't use their scan or communications. He didn't know what had happened down in the engine core, and knew that what could have happened could be very, very bad. Spike needed to know how bad it was. If the engines had imploded, they all would have felt the bang before they died. But if they were on fire, if the hull integrity was holding…

He'd seen a flash fire on a starship and what could happen. He'd be better off putting his pistol to his head or taking a step outside without his EVA suit. Anything would be better than having super-heated air melt the flesh from his bones.

"Gotta try something," Spike murmured, twisting the delicate wiring between his fingers. There, connections were made and the display light turned green. Standing up, he touched the switch to route power to the external vid. _BeBop_'s hull looked smooth and cold on the grainy display, no evidence that any part of her was aflame or venting precious oxygen. Curious, he turned the cameras toward their attackers' ship.

Damn.

"What is it?" Faye demanded, elbowing him in the ribs when he didn't answer. She went pale as the huge cannon slowly moved to target _BeBop_'s aft end.

"Looks like they're going to fire again," Spike said, his tone unconcerned.

Faye groaned and pulled at her hair. "I'm getting out of here," she whispered, her voice tense and scared. "Come on, Spike. We've got to get to the hangar before that thing…"

"Haven't you been paying attention?" Higurashi's voice was like a cold lash, brimming with authority. Both Faye and Spike turned to look at her. "They aren't going to fire with the intention of destroying this ship. They won't take that chance."

"Then what are they going to do?" Faye asked sarcastically.

The marshal leaned against the console, her gloved fingers drumming against the battered metal. "My guess is that they are aware that we tried to start the engines and make a run for it. They won't give us a second chance at that, so I'd say they will try to destroy our thrust capacity. Before, they only targeted the hull and support areas, knowing that we wouldn't damn well burn and risk a hull breach."

"That was to intimidate us," Spike said softly. "See if we'd make their job easier by handing over the Hanyou. Then they would have blasted us to hell and gotten rid of any witnesses."

Higurashi gave him a look of approval. "Exactly. They have no intention of letting this ship go anywhere once they have Inuyasha. But now that they realize we were able to mask their sensors, they won't take the chance of letting us slip away. They'll incapacitate the engines, open a secondary breach and send in an armed assault team. Textbook tactics for retrieval of prisoners."

"Why would they take us prisoner?" Faye demanded.

Higurashi shook her head. "You don't understand," she said, a hard edge to her voice, contempt for Faye's questioning. "They are only interested in one prisoner. The rest of us are just in the way and will be disposed of by the assault team. Or simply left here to die if we're lucky."

Faye bit her lip, the odds were against her once again. Better to take her chances with the gunship than the mercenaries that were going to board in search of Inuyasha. Damn, but that idiot had screwed the all and good.

"That's it, I'm out of here," she muttered. Faye spun around and made a run for the door, hoping that Higurashi wasn't going to use her stun wand and try to keep them from escaping.

Spike caught her arm. "Faye, don't," he began.

She shook off his hand angrily. "Screw you, don't try to stop me," she snapped. "I'm taking my zip and getting the hell away. I'll take my chances with that gunner, they can't target me and _BeBop_ at the same time, and at least I'll have a shot."

"What about the rest of us?" Spike glared at her until she dropped her eyes.

"Ed and Ein can run with me," she said grudgingly. Then she turned a sweet smile on the marshal. "The rest of you are on your own. Good luck with that, Major."

Higurashi's look could have withered a flower in full bloom. "I believe what Mr. Spiegel was trying to say," she said caustically, "is that this ship doesn't have enough power left in reserve to open the hangar. Are you planning on using your bare hands?"

"At least I'm trying something," Faye snarled back. "What are you going to do, wait quietly to die?" She was seething more from frustration and fear than any real anger. "Maybe I can take an EVA suit, maybe one with the outside jets. If I can get to a shipping lane…"

"You won't." Higurashi had stopped looking so condescending, but she did look like she was fresh out of answers. "You'll run out of oxygen in four hours, we're at least fifty hours from even a remote route."

Spike didn't like the odds, but he figured they had nothing to lose either. "About how many in the boarding party?"

Higurashi shrugged. "Usually six or seven, does it matter?"

That left them with four if he counted Ed, Spike figured. The fact that Jet hadn't come up to the command deck meant he was probably trying something. Inuyasha was sealed up snug in the environmental pod, without out power or resources. A team of six or seven would be needed to breach the hull, take out any resistance, and then mount a search for the target.

But if they didn't ever get on the ship…and if Jet had something sneaky up his sleeve… Spike grinned and wished they had enough oxygen to spare that he might light a smoke.

"Ladies," he began, including Ed who was all ears by now. Ein yipped and Spike nodded easily. "And dogs. If we're going to have guests, we should make sure to give 'em a friendly welcome. Weapons locker is just off the aft corridor."

oOo

"Target set," Goshinki announced without a backwards glance. "Ready to fire on your order, captain."

"At last," Kagura muttered under her breath. "I want a short, controlled burst…don't take any chances, Goshinki. That tub will most likely explode if we…"

"Captain!"

She spun around at Kanna's panicked voice, uncharacteristic show of emotion from the stoic girl. Her eyes widened as she caught sight of the display and sucked in her breath.

"That looks like…"

BANG!

oOo

Spike stopped dead in his tracks, ignoring Faye's curses and Higurashi's angry snarl as the two women ran right into him. The lighting was dim, sure sign that the batteries were giving up their last and in a minute, they'd be down to hand torches and god help them…cigarette lighters.

"Did you hear that?" he whispered.

"What?" Faye demanded.

"I thought I heard something."

"I didn't hear a thing!"

Higurashi poked Faye's shoulder menacingly with her stun wand. "Will you please shut up?" she hissed, her eyes darting at the shadowy corners. "Is it the assault team?"

Spike shook his head and rubbed the back of his neck as he stared up at the metal ceiling. "No," he said in a low voice. "We'd hear them cutting into the hull. It sounded further away, muffled…"

He was just about to tell them to forget it when the floor shook and threw them all hard into the wall. Ed squealed, Faye cursed again, and Ein started yapping frantically as the dim lighting finally flickered and gave out, leaving them all in complete darkness.

"Shit."

oOo

Jet swore under his breath as he worked, pulling the last bolts from the second engine's casing. So far, so good…if he wasn't running out of time. Barely able to keep his hands steady enough for such delicate work, it didn't help that he could barely see what he was doing. A tiny incandescent was all he could risk down here, a naked flame would have been asking for too much mercy from the universe.

Finally, he pulled the casing and inspected the diagnostic boards, satisfied that everything looked intact. Would have been a bitch to try and repair the circuits if they'd been corroded or damaged by that damned gunship's attack. The crawlspace was filthy and stank to high hell, old grease and years of dust made for a gritty muck under his fingernails and on his face where he'd had to wipe away the sweat.

"Come on, baby," he whispered, hoping that somehow the ship could understand what he needed. A few short taps on the board, a little bit of prayer, and _BeBop_ suddenly believed that she was dockside for repairs.

Had to lie a little bit and tell the old girl that she'd suffered data loss, he thought smugly as he replaced the casing. _BeBop_'s diagnostic computers were talking to each other now, probably dissing the nameless tech who about to test her power output. That nameless tech was actually Jet, her owner, and he wouldn't have blamed the ship one bit if it had called him crazy.

"Now, I just need to plug this feed back in," he said, pulling out the spare unit. The feed went from the diagnostic computers to the control, allowing him to be somewhere else than directly under the engines that were just about to burn. He found himself humming as he went down the checklist for the drives, fully engaged and safety off, about to be blasted to suddenly life by a massive power output.

He was just about to start the countdown when he felt a tremble under the soles of his boots. Jet's face went pale, realizing that _BeBop_ had just been hit, no more than a glancing blow that would have hardly scorched the hull, but scary as that idea was, there was one even scarier still. If the gunship had fired on them…

What the hell made it miss?

oOo

Alarms and klaxons screaming in her ears, Kagura gripped the armrests of her control chair so hard that her fingernails actually pierced the hard plastic. She ground her teeth until her jaw ached, listening as her crew demanded damage reports from the sections.

"What the fuck just happened?"

"Search me, my boards are blazing all displays!"

"Someone call the sick bay, do we have wounded?"

Furious, Kagura jumped from her chair and slammed her fist into a metal panel. It hurt like all hell, split her knuckles open so that droplets of blood surrounded her hand like a halo. Goddamn g was going now too, but she suddenly had the focused attention from her bridge.

"Kanna," she snarled, glaring around her like a red-eyed demon. "Report!"

The pale girl turned around, her dark eyes huge in her thin face. "We took fire," she said quickly. "Damage centered on sec three, areas B through B-16."

"And?"

There was a tense silence. "We've lost the cannon."

"Son of a bitch!" Goshinki was out of his seat, stalking the tiny girl at scan. "Who did it?" he snarled, "who fucking shot at us? Those fucking cowboys?"

Kanna didn't look away from Kagura, but she reached behind her and turned on the bridge comm.

"_White Feather_, this is the _Hirakotsu_, law enforcement vessel of the Federated Inter-Solar System Police. You are commanded to stand down your weapons and drives, prepare to be boarded by federal Marines. Your cooperation is appreciated and will be reported when your sentencing…"

"What the fuck?" Kagura breathed, her face going white at the very thought of federal Marines boarding her craft. "Feds…all the way out here? No way, I didn't see any reports of a cruiser from intell…"

Kanna was punching keys furiously. "I can't get a lock on the signal," she said, her voice taut. "It's very close, but I have no prox reports, no visual identification. The federal code appears genuine, captain…and the heat signature is within limits for their gunnery."

Kagura rubbed her eyes. She was sweating, her entire body was oozing cold sweat from her armpits to the soles of her feet. Even now, she could feel her heart starting to palpitate, anticipating its torture at Naraku's hands. Best she could hope for was to spill her guts to the feds' interrogators, hoping that they'd let her spend the rest of her life in safe, solitary lockdown.

If she rolled over on Naraku though…there wasn't a lockup in the universe that could keep him from finding her and using that damned chip he'd planted in her heart to exact an excruciating revenge.

Bitterly, she realized that she was out of options. "This is the captain of _White Feather_," she said, using her thumb to stab the comm unit. "We will comply."

Then she flipped the inter-ship comm and prepared herself for a war. "Bankotsu, get your boys ready for a firefight," she said, hating that she was probably about to die at the hands of federal soldiers after a lifetime of staying out of their hands. "We're about to be boarded."

oOo

"I don't fucking believe it!"

Faye elbowed Spike to the side, craning to get a look at the tiny vid. All she could see was a grainy image of the gunship, same as they'd seen before, but now there was a huge, smoking hole where the cannon used to sit.

"Where the hell did that come from?" she muttered, trying to focus closer. She pulled in closer and whistled low. "Is that a…damn, I don't know."

A gasp from behind her and both Faye and Spike stared at Higurashi. The woman's face was gray, her lips pale like a dead fish and she suddenly pushed forward to slap the external audio like she knew there was something being broadcast into the open channels of space.

"_White Feather_, this is the _Hirakotsu_, law enforcement vessel of the Federated Inter-Solar System Police. You are commanded to stand down your weapons…"

"Oh god, no," the marshal whispered. "Sango, what have you done?"

Just aft of the wreckage, she saw a tiny craft snuggled up against _White Feather_'s hull. Faye's eyes narrowed as she recognized a small patrol ship designed for short hops between bases. It was more of a shuttle really, no Gate capacity, and known for its speed rather than its armor or range.

Just beyond the zipcraft, a lone figure was moving, wearing a pristine EVA suit that looked blindingly white against the scorch-scarred hull of the gunship. To the best of Faye's knowledge, that shuttle didn't carry much in the way of weapons. A few self-defense lasers, impact guns, cutting torch and welding arms…how the hell did it just blast the hell out of…

"Must have come in fast," Spike muttered, following the figure as it jerkily moved on their vid. "Come in fast, jam the sensors and use magnetic clamps to seal up against the hull. Your lieutenant must be one hell of a pilot, major."

"She is." Kagome's jaw was tight, her throat looked like she was about to scream. "And she's here against orders, I never told her to take down that cannon on her own!"

Spike glanced sideways at the major. Once engaged, the magnetic clamps could not be released. She would have come in silent, clamped on to the ship, and then had to EVA across the hull with no assistance to plant what he assumed were concussion explosives at the base of the cannon. All without alerting the crew to her presence, knowing that a mistake with the charge would have sent herself flying into the deep black or simply blown both ships to hell.

"Risky," he muttered. Kagome looked like she was about to be sick. Odd to see the stone-faced marshal looking like she wanted to cry or scream. She knew what her lieutenant had done, saved their ass at the expense of her own.

But not today…if this ruse lasted long enough. Eventually the _White Feather_ would realize that she was in no danger of being boarded. He was willing to bet that the cannon was far from her only weapon. And there was the matter of an armed assault team, just waiting to be deployed so they could carve their way into _BeBop_ like a hungry man would carve into a thick steak.

Resting his hand on the major's shoulder, Spike offered her a lopsided grin. After all, recklessness of that sort deserved its own reward.

"Come on. Let's go get suited up and meet her at the hatch."


End file.
